A long-established Cornish camping and caravan site faces closure after only being able to prove it has been in operation for nine years, rather than the required 10.
Cornwall Council issued the campsite, at Pleasant Streams Barn near St Austell, with an enforcement notice in October 2019 saying the owners had breached planing control on the land by turning it from an agricultural field into a camping and caravanning site.
The notice gave the owners two months to clear the site of tents and caravans.
According to rules in place at the time, no enforcement action was to take place if the owners could prove that the breach had been taking place for 10 years or more when the notice was issued. That means that, if they could prove the field was a camping and caravan site in October 2009, Cornwall Council couldn’t close the site down.
The owners appealed the case to a planning inspector, who rejected their appeal. He found that, while they could prove that camping was taking place in 2010, and they could prove that the site was set up as a campsite in July 2009, they could not prove that camping and caravanning had actually taken place prior to October 2009.
The owners appealed to the High Court, and the case went to trial last week, during the height of Cornwall’s busiest-ever camping season.
At the trial, lawyers for the owners argued that the fact that they could prove the site could be used for camping, because it had toilet and shower facilities on site, should be enough to prove that it was a campsite.
However, giving judgment in Cardiff on Friday 27 August, Mr Justice Jarman QC disagreed. He said that the planning inspector was within his rights to require actual evidence of camping.
Next year, the campsite should be able to open for tent camping if it complies with “pop-up campsite” rules that allow 28 days of tent camping per year on a site without formal permission.
However, if the owners want to open for longer, or admit caravans, they will have to take the case to the Court of Appeal.
Lesley Anne Hedges v (1) Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and (2) Cornwall Council
Queen’s Bench Division, Planning Court, Cardiff (Judge Jarman QC) 27 August 2021
Matthew Fraser (instructed by Stephens Scown Solicitors) appeared for the appellant. Mr Jack Smyth (instructed by the Government Legal Department) appeared for the first respondent. The second respondent did not appear and was not represented.
