Some posters have suggested that you try to take the p??s and try to avoid the rules, don't do that, instead of a friendly planning officer you will get a really miserable enforcement officer, play it straight.
In England it would be a Certificate of lawfull use, present your application as best you can, when they accept it as a valid application it will be advertised to neighbours, local parish councils, environment agency, highways and probably other. They will all have a limited time to make comments, you can read these comments either online or at the council offices before the application is determined, if you have a lot of adverse comment, ask to put the decision back a month and provide extra evidence to counter the comment. So far it would have cost you very little, if you get refused and appeal it will cost a great deal.

Enforcement officers are always really miserable, it goes with the job function - you have to spend all day talking to people who don't want to see you. Which in turn, surprise surprise, means that it's not easy to hire good ones, and in fact not easy to hire any at all.

A few lessons to be learned here.

https://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic...hilit=Planning

Basically, stop broadcasting everything on the internet and seek professional advice from the start.

you need to speak to a planning consultant.

signed witness statements may be the way to go to prove 10 years use.

Tread Carefully
 

PB84 Golden Rule

As alluded in the post's the 'Council' have to be seen to follow up complaints or observations from third parties.

They frequently encourage you to 'Just make an application old boy' which may be asked for in a very friendly way, but it merely puts you at risk on two counts.
A:- it presumes YOU NEED to make an application (when in fact you do not), and B:- What do you do when the application is refused (which is entirely likely) even if the actual planning officer recommends approval.
It only needs a couple of switched on locals to bombard the Council with complaints, or the threat of a judicial review, and your 'friendly' planning officer suddenly becomes your executioner.
Your initial action should be to DO NOTHING,ADMIT NOTHING, and certainly not to commit anything to paper or e-mail or even telephone conversation.
The Council do not like having to take enforcement action as it puts them on the back foot as to what they are trying to enforce against, and they frequently get it wrong in unusual cases.
Also there may be different rules in Scotland or even local bylaws.

If you have an 'off the record' chat with the planning officer do not say anything that may harm your case (they are not allowed to record conversations anyway) and merely ask what action they propose to take. This will at least forewarn you on what action you need to prepare for.

There are planning consultants out there who can advise, but local knowledge is always useful. I would suggest a call to the LAA at Turnweston would be in order as they are an organisation that has a lot of dealings with 'strips' so they will know the best people in your area to advise you.
Good Luck and remember 'Loose Lips Sinks Ships'

PM me if you want I have been down this route more than once so may be able to 'point you' in a positive direction. !!!

Planning consultants have considerably more value if they know the local planning policies and the local planning officers. So choose a local one.

totally agree. also the one man band operators are often just as good as the nationals.

If you can't use it as a landing strip then sell the land to some members of the travelling community.

You mean rent it, surely.

If you kept an airfield log which shows entries covering more than 10 years then you're in with a chance. I did and that led to my being granted a Cert of Lawful use which suited me fine and comes with no conditions. The down side was that a jobsworth at the council asked the Valuation Office (VO) to set a rateable value on the strip but after some dialogue with the VO they declined to do so. Result.

Tractor Boy has obviously has some experience of travelers, definitely sell, and move a long way away because all the locals are going to hate you. There is a rumor that there are good travelers, but residents who live close to one of their "no go area" sites tell a different story.

They will be like "good politicians", "good drivers", "good managers", "good typography", "good Tories" ect ect - they probably do exist, but you never notice them. Because why would you?

I don't think the 2007 image does look like a landing strip. There are three obvious hedges plus gates in it, which have vanished by the time of the 2011 photo where it also shows signs of wear along the appropriate orientation. If I was looking for a field to land a glider in I'd have no hesitation with the 2011 onwards appearance, but not with the hedges. The distance between the west-most & centre hedges is 180m, which while it's possible to squeeze the right kind of glider in is pretty tight.

What about consulting with Flying Farmers?

Hi Piperboy.

What is the state of play with your strip? I was hoping to pop in with the R22 sometime in the next week or two for a cup of tea and a sticky bun at Murton.
Can we stillll land there or is the strip closed?

Either way i hope things work out ok.

Regards.

Martin