By Phil Wilkinson Jones – Local Democracy Reporter
A planning inspector is being asked to rule on how long a business has been operating from a house in Powick.
Business owner Caroline McKain wants a certificate of lawfulness to prove her business has been based in the garage of 3 Malvern Road for at least 10 years.
This would mean the business would be immune from enforcement action by the council for any breaches of planning policy made when it was first converted to a “home retail” facility.
The application was turned down by Malvern Hills District Council in June and has now gone to appeal, so the final decision is now in the hands of a planning inspector.
Ms McKain says she moved to Powick in 2006 and already had a school uniform supply business, for which she immediately converted the garage for “storage and retail”.
In 2010 she says she added an antiques and collectables business called ‘Vintage Forever’, although this was never formally registered as a company.
Appeal documents show that Ms McKain “further restyled the business to focus on more garden themed items more recently in 2020”.
This was “in response to the Covid epidemic, which encouraged more outdoor and garden life with a greater emphasis on a more home improvements-oriented lifestyle, than indoor antiques and furniture”.
Ms McKain said she regularly employs two other members of staff on a part-time basis, adding that she also ran a retail premises in the Cotswolds between 2018 and 2022.
The council said it spoke to neighbours and has seen “evidence that the garage and garden area of retail use has rapidly expanded since November 2021”.
“The local residents also state that there was no external advertising prior to 2021 to attract passing traffic, which is unlike the situation now.
“Due to the loss of privacy caused by visitors to the site these local residents also installed security cameras, which has recorded the increase in the volume of traffic and visitors when this started to increase at the beginning of 2022.”