Stan Brouard gets planning approval 30 years after opening

Wednesday 27 April 2022

Stan Brouard has attained a Certificate of Lawful Use after operating as a retail outlet for more than three decades without the required planning permission.

Due to the length of time that had passed without enforcement, the States were unable to do anything to prohibit the use of the premises as a garden, furniture, and leisure store at its Landes du Marche site. Meanwhile, the business was unable to open a café because its operation as a retail store was not legally recognised.

Pictured: States' deputies first debated the issue more than five year ago. 

The issue was debated by the States Assembly in October 2016, where deputies agreed to direct the Development & Planning Authority to find a way to facilitate the opening of the café, the first step of which involved proposing a new ordinance to introduce Certificates of Lawful Use; a method of regularising long-standing unlawful use, a system which has been used in the UK for many years.

The granting of the Certificate of Lawful Use by the authority followed an application by Carey Olsen on behalf of Stan Brouard, and saw the law firm submit substantial documentary evidence, which sought to prove its long-held retail use.

Under the law, certificates will only be granted if there is sufficient evidence to prove, on a balance of probabilities, that the unlawful use of land has been continuous for more than 10 years prior to the date of the application or more than four years since the Authority first knew about the change of use.

Pictured: Stan Brouard has been operating as a retail outlet without the lawful permits for 30 years. 

Stan Brouard Managing Director, Rodney Brouard, he was “over the moon” that the matter had been resolved.

“Whether we continue with our plans for the café is something we'll now have to think about as it has been so many years since we first mooted the idea and much has changed for us as business,” he said.

"Having said that, it is reassuring to know that a mechanism is now available to other businesses in the island who might have found themselves in a similar situation to our own."

Carey Olsen Senior Associate and Planning Law Specialist, Rachel Jones led the application for Stan Brouard.

"Although this was not the first successful Certificate of Lawful Use application relating to the commercial use of property since the introduction of the 2019 Law, it is without the question the most notable,” she said.

Pictured: Carey Olsen Senior Associate and Planning Law Specialist, Rachel Jones assisted in the application. 

Mrs Jones continued: “After all, the 2019 Law only came to be enacted in Guernsey because of Stan Brouard's long and successful campaign to be granted the opportunity to build a café at its Landes du Marche premises.

"Without the pressure exerted by the likes of Rodney many years ago we might never have seen the DPA bring forward proposals for Certificates of Lawful Use, a change in the law that can have significant benefits for commercial as well as residential property owners."