Brixton Road, Lambeth
Preserving a planning permission through lawful implementation
Maddox Planning advised on the implementation of planning permission 23/01503/FUL at 409–411 Brixton Road. Granted in September 2023, the permission included the infilling of a rear lightwell, a covered courtyard seating area, a toilet facility and alterations to an existing window opening.
The client wanted to preserve the permission before it expired. Maddox Planning reviewed the approved scheme and identified that demolition of a derelict outbuilding in the rear yard would be required to deliver the approved courtyard and covered seating works.
We advised that demolishing the outbuilding could amount to a material operation implementing the planning permission. The structure, which had a lean-to slate roof, was clearly identified on the approved drawings and occupied part of the area required for the permitted development. There were also no pre-commencement conditions which needed to be discharged before the work took place.
Following our advice, the rear outbuilding was demolished. Maddox Planning then prepared and submitted an application for a Certificate of Lawfulness of Existing Use or Development to establish formally that the permission had been implemented.
The application combined the legal and planning case with a clear evidential record. This included marked-up approved plans identifying the demolished structure, dated photographs and contractor quotation and invoice evidence. Together, these documents demonstrated what had been removed, its relationship to the approved development and when the work had taken place.
Lambeth Council accepted that demolition of the rear outbuilding had occurred before the permission expired and constituted a material operation under section 56(4)(aa) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. The Council described the submitted evidence as sufficiently precise and unambiguous.
A Certificate of Lawfulness was issued on 25 March 2026, confirming that planning permission 23/01503/FUL had been lawfully implemented.
The project demonstrates how early implementation advice can protect a valuable planning position. By identifying an operation integral to the approved scheme, checking that no outstanding conditions prevented commencement and assembling the evidence needed to prove the work, Maddox Planning secured formal confirmation that the permission remained capable of completion.