Approval of Touring Caravan Park Unpopular with Caldecote Residents

The saga of the Touring Caravan Park approved by South Cambs Planning Committee continues, and is getting increasingly more difficult. As outlined in a previous post, the park was given approval on 4 June 2012, for up to 20 spaces to the dismay of Caldecote residents. The Parish council subsequently wrote to the Interim Head of Planning to register their official complaint and to put South Cambs on notice regarding any breaches that might occur. They also arranged a meeting with the Planning department to discuss the concerns with this application in particular and the planning process in general.

The Annual Parish Meeting (APM) of 17 May 2012 was attended by well over 80 residents, all of whom were extremely concerned about the decision and what they saw as lack of proper consultation by the District Council on such an important issue, and the impact the park would have on the community. The Parish Council was able to report back on its meeting with Planning that took place just 2 days prior.

Subsequently, and as a result of the discussions at the APM coupled with the fact that the decision notice had not yet been issued, residents of Caldecote wrote letters of complaint to South Cambs, and the parish council sent a further 11-page letter outlining issues which it saw as being material to the case, and which it hoped would result in the application being referred back to committee for re-determination. Residents are deeply concerned and worried that the site would be used for permanent occupation particularly as it is difficult to enforce planning and/or licensing conditions that might be attached to the approval.

Over 100 letters were received by South Cambs, but after analysing the points raised, the Council concluded that there were no new material grounds that had not been discussed at the committee meeting. Residents have expressed serious concerns about this outcome, and pointed out that some of the information in the report to committee was incorrect, and that the report was incomplete. This residents felt meant that the members of the committee did not have all the facts to hand to have made a fully informed decision.

Having decided that there were no new material grounds to justify sending the application back to committee, the Council on 31 May 2012 issued the decision notice approving the change of use of the site to Touring Caravan Park. Subsequently, the site owner was spotted on site on the bank holiday saturday clearing the site of vegetation and putting up a fence which looks like a “newt barrier”.  Over the weekend, I have received enquiries from concerned residents as to whether or not pre-commencement conditions attached to the planning approval had been complied with. He has also been spotted on the site today with a digger and SCDC officers are now dealing with this matter to take enforcement action as appropriate.

There is still the matter of the Site License which needs to be granted for the actual running of the site as a Touring Caravan Park. Caldecote Parish Council are liasing with SCDC on this to ensure the details of the conditions are correct and enforceable. The site is expected to open to holiday makers all year round, but for only a maximum of 28 days stay. The planning permission does not include a restriction on seasonal opening times even though members of the committee requested it.

The next stage of this ongoing saga is the attendance of Cllr Nick Wright, Cabinet Member and Portfolio Holder for Planning and Economic Development at the Caldecote Parish Council meeting on Thursday 7th June 2012 at 7pm, at Caldecote Village Hall. He will be able to explain the SCDC planning policy that led to the decision and how SCDC envisages it will monitor and enforce the conditions attached to the planning approval and the licence. It promises to be an interesting meeting indeed.

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