Appeal Decision Inquiry held on 25 February 2014 Site visit made on 26 February 2014 by Simon Hand MA an Inspector appointed by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Decision date: 4 March 2014 Appeal Ref: APP/L1765/X/13/2202029 South Hants Country Park, Blackhouse Lane, North Boarhunt, Fareham, PO17 6JS • The appeal is made under section 195 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended by the Planning and Compensation Act 1991 against a refusal to grant a certificate of lawful use or development (LDC). • The appeal is made by Turners (Britannia Parks) Ltd against the decision of Winchester City Council. • The application Ref FS/PL1/12/606, dated 3 March 2013, was refused by notice dated 9 May 2013. • The application was made under section 192(1)(a) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 as amended. • The use for which a certificate of lawful use or development is sought is use of the land for the siting of caravans for the purposes of residential occupation throughout the year. Decision 1. The appeal is dismissed. Main Issues 2. What is the lawful use of the land, in particular the green land; does condition 3 still have an effect on the green land; is the lawful use materially different from the use proposed in the LDC? Background to the Appeal 3. The application for an LDC covers three parcels of land which together form the South Hants Country Park (SHCP) which it is agreed by the parties acts as a single planning unit. The red land is a rectangle in the centre of the site which has an LDC granted in 2011 for the siting of residential caravans with no restriction. The blue land covers the western and southern part of the site (just over half the area). This was granted planning permission for “continued use of land as site for touring and static holiday caravans” in 1984. It also has an LDC for “use of land for static holiday caravans without restrictions as to numbers and for occupation at any time of year”, granted in January 2008. The green land covers the eastern part of the site, just over a third in total area, and this was granted planning permission (370/03) in 1981 for “use of land as extension of existing naturist club site”. This permission has two relevant conditions, No.3 which says “there shall be no caravans on the site at any time between 1 st November and 1 st March” and No.4 which says “caravans www.planningportal.gov.uk/planninginspectorate Appeal Decision APP/L1765/X/13/2202029 shall not be placed on the site for the purpose of letting as holiday or residential accommodation”. 4. Because of the LDC on the red land, there is no dispute this can lawfully be used for the purposes described in the appeal LDC application and I do not refer to the red land again. 5. The SHCP it would appear was originally a naturist site, and operated in that capacity for many years. In the blue land there is a covered and an open swimming pool, a club house and bar with a games room, tennis courts etc. It is clear this use was in full swing in 1980s when the extension onto the green land was granted. There was also an attempt in 1986/87 to apply for permanent residential permission on the land. This was vigorously opposed by members of the ‘Sun Club’ that operated from the site (both the blue and green land). It seems there were 4-500 local members and a large number of others who lived further away, using the static and touring caravan facilities on a regular basis. 6. The naturist use was still going on in the 2000s, but in 2006 the park was sold to JDR developments and from then on has been used as a conventional holiday caravan park. I should imagine it was this change that prompted the LDC application in 2007 which led to the grant in 2008 of the LDC for the blue land for static holiday caravans. For a period between 2006 and 2008 the facilities on the blue land were opened up to use by any of the locals on the purchase of an annual membership. The lawful use of the site 7. The Council maintain that the whole site was used a naturist club and this is a sui generis use which is quite different from a holiday caravan site. Consequently, although they accept the blue land now has a lawful use for static holiday caravans, the green land is still bound by the planning permission from 1981 as an extension to the naturist club site. Despite the 1984 planning permission on the blue land which refers only to “static holiday caravans”, the use was clearly a naturist club. Even after the naturist element ceased the buildings were still used as a club by local people, and they could hold parties and celebrations there, and according to Mr Coverdale’s evidence, can still do so. 8. It is true that a sports and leisure club is a sui generis use that is different from a holiday caravan site, but I am not convinced that is what was going on at the SHCP. Direct evidence as to the nature and extent of the use is hard to come by but even in the 1980s there was a significant part of the site being used for caravans, both static and touring, to enable non-local naturists to use the site for holidays. The grant of the planning permission in 1984 for “touring and static holiday caravans” which was then the lawful use of the land calls into doubt whether a sui generis club was going on at the same time. In 2008 there clearly was not a sufficiently intense club use to prevent the issue of an LDC on the blue land for “the use of the land for static holiday caravans”. It is the blue land that contains all the buildings and club facilities. Had they been in use for something else, such as a sports and leisure club, the LDC could not have been granted in the terms that it was. Thus by 2008 there was unequivocally no sui generis club use on the blue land. www.planningportal.gov.uk/planninginspectorate 2 Appeal Decision APP/L1765/X/13/2202029 9. The green land, it would seem, was only ever used for caravans, mostly tourers, even when the naturist club was at its height. No buildings or facilities were ever erected on it, nor were they planned. Even when the whole site was being used as a naturist club, the actual use of the green land would have been indistinguishable from a typical touring caravan site, other than the lack of clothes of the occupants. The Council argued that the facilities on the blue land were excessive for a small holiday caravan park, but in the 1980s the blue land accommodated nearly 60 static caravans with room for more tourers. Once the green land extension was developed there can be no argument with the view that that the facilities were commensurate with the site. Most of the site was used for caravans. 10. Taking all this together, the 1984 planning permission and the 2008 LDC, the size of the site and the use of most of the blue land and all the green land for caravans, I conclude the naturist club was, as the appellant argued, a matter for the management of the site, not a specific land use. The site was a holiday caravan park that happened to be managed for naturists up to 2006 and thereafter available for anyone. The fact that later on the locals could use the facilities for a fee is of no great relevance as the facilities were then ancillary to the caravan site use, in the same way that many hotels with a pool and gym operate those facilities as a leisure club for locals as well as for occupants of the hotel, without it becoming a use separate from the hotel use. 11. Consequently, the description of development of the 1981 planning permission on the green land does not restrict the use of that land to a naturist club as there was no such use. The extension was actually to a holiday caravan site and that is how the green land has been used ever since. The lawful use of the land, both the blue and green land is therefore as a holiday caravan site. Apart from conditions 3 and 4 on the green land there is no restriction on the type of caravans, static or touring, or the length of occupation. The Conditions 12. Condition No.3 of planning permission 370/03 refers to the green land only. It states that “there shall be no caravans on the site at any time between 1 st November and 1 st March”. There is no dispute that a static caravan has been placed by the entrance to the SHCP (which is in the green land) and occupied by the park manager in excess of 10 years. 13. The appellant’s evidence from various statutory declarations is that caravans have been left on the green land over the winter since 1998. It would seem that some people took their caravans home during the winter but some left them on the site and they would be moved temporarily during the winter months to a compound for storage to comply with the condition.