A Pembrokeshire man has been allowed to keep a car servicing business yard, in part, that was previously subject to an enforcement notice for having no planning permission.
In an application to Pembrokeshire County Council, John Jenkins and family, through agent Hayston Developments & Planning Ltd, sought a certificate of lawfulness for an existing vehicle repair business yard and storage containers at Quoits Mill Yard, Monkton, near Pembroke.
A certificate of lawfulness allows an applicant to keep a development if they can provide proof of use over a prolonged period.
A supporting statement accompanying the application said: “It should be noted that, although this Quoits Mill site adjacent to the B4320 is fairly prominent, the Planning Authority would appear never to have taken any enforcement action regarding the presence of Mr Jenkins’ house (caravans/chalets), the extensive yard or the containers placed on the hardstanding and current application site.
“However, on April 3, 2025, the Planning Authority served an Enforcement Notice on Mr John Jenkins of 27, Monkton /Mr John Jenkins of Caravan Quoits Mill, Monkton with the breach of Planning Control relating to ‘Without the benefit of planning permission – unauthorised operational development in the form of a workshop, constructed from stacked storage container units and metal roof sheeting and wall elements’.
“The notice requires Mr Jenkins to ‘Permanently dismantle and remove all elements of the workshop from the land, to include the stacked storage containers units and roof sheeting and wall element forming part of the construction’.
Back in 2025 a planning inspector rejected an appeal against the enforcement notice.
The statement added: “Whilst my client accepts that he must ‘Permanently dismantle and remove all elements of the workshop from the land, to include the stacked storage containers units and roof sheeting and wall element forming part of the construction,’ it is noted that the workshop is located within a larger area of land within which there been used as a business yard and has a number of storage units parked for a period in excess of 10 years.”
The application, saying there had been a long history of using that part of Quoits Mill as a business yard, included witness statements and letters setting out a timeline in which The Quoits Mill site at Monkton has been in the ownership of the Jenkins family for over 30 years prior to 2014 when it was transferred to Mr Jenkins.
An officer report recommending approval said officers were “satisfied that, on the balance of probability, the land has been used continuously as a business yard for vehicle repair, servicing, storage and associated commercial activities falling within B2/B8 uses for a period exceeding 10 years prior to the date of the application”.
It went on to say on the balance of probability, perimeter storage containers had also acquired lawful operational development status, but stressed: “For the avoidance of doubt, this conclusion does not extend to the stacked storage containers, roof structure, walling elements and enclosed workshop building located within the central part of the site which formed the subject of [the enforcement notice].”
The certificate was granted with those limitations.
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