Council lose planning appeal on Lawley hut

A property company has won permission to demolish a ‘dilapidated’ military-style Nissen hut in Telford after an inspector disagreed with a council’s interpretation of its own policies.

Telford & Wrekin Council planners had refused the application to knock down the corrugated cement sheeting structure that was the home of a printing business, and replace it with a light industrial unit with an office and a store on land in Dawley Road, Lawley.

Tierce Properties Ltd then asked the Planning Inspectorate for a final ruling.

Council planners threw out the application on the grounds that the site is – just – in a rural area. It is close to housing but sits on the local plan boundary.

And council planners id not believe that the proposed use would count as a diversification of rural business because it would “ not relate to agriculture or forestry”.

The council said that the applicants, who provide construction, building maintenance and landscape services had not “demonstrated that it would assist in the diversification of the rural economy.”

A planning inspector reached his conclusion in favour of Tierce Properties earlier this month (April, 2025).

The inspector ruled that development in rural areas “will be supported where it addresses the needs of rural communities.”

The council’s policy also directs development in rural areas to the reuse of previously developed land.

Even though the business operates in the Wolverhampton area the inspector said the land would “provide alternative employment opportunities.

The business told the inspector that it provides  services in both urban and rural areas and the inspector agreed that a service businesses can assist the diversification of the rural economy.

“There is no reasoned justification that the appellant’s business would only work in urban areas,” the inspector said.

“Consequently, the proposal would provide services to assist businesses in rural areas and create alternative job opportunities that are not currently provided by the appeal site in this rural area as well as support the growth of an existing business,” the inspector said.

The inspector said this development “would assist in the diversification of the rural economy.”