Downland Park , Court Farm Road, Newhaven , East Sussex, BN9 9DJ

Authority: Lewes District Council
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: caravan-gypsy · Major traveller and caravan pitches
Inspector: Hocking P

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

whether the Council's refusal to grant a certificate of lawfulness for use of land as a caravan site without restrictions or conditions was well founded

What decided it

The Inspector found it more likely than not, based on statutory documentation confirming the 6.55ha site area, that the 1989 permission (containing no restrictions) applied to the appeal site rather than the more restrictive 1986 permission.

Judgments cited: Newbury v SSE [1981] AC 578; Trump International Golf Club v The Scottish Ministers [2015] UKSC; Lambeth LBC v SSCLG [2019] UKSC 33; Hillside Parks Ltd v SNPA [2022] UKSC 30; Telford & Wrekin Council v SSCLG [2013] EWHC 79 (Admin); R v Ashford Borough Council ex p Shepway District Council [1999] PLCR; UBB Waste Essex Ltd v Essex County Council [2019] EWHC 1294 (Admin)

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

The main issues and the deciding factor are read from the published letter by Town Planner Pro; the letter itself is the record. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Research, not advice.

What an account adds

Draw a red line around your site and the appraisal follows.

Heritage. Listed buildings by grade and distance, conservation areas, scheduled monuments, registered parks and gardens, heritage at risk.
Landscape and environment. Green belt, national parks and national landscapes, SSSIs, ancient woodland, SPA, SAC and Ramsar sites, nutrient catchments.
Flooding. Flood zones 2 and 3, surface water, and both again with climate change.
Transport. The 800 metre station catchment and service frequency, bus stops with their weekday frequency, the cycle network, and the Framework’s transport tests measured for the site.

Then the development plan position, the housing land supply as an Inspector last accepted it, and every appeal decided around the site with its letter.

Every English appeal since 2016, with the letter behind it wherever the Inspectorate published one. Searched by meaning as well as by words, with the key case law counted live across the letters.

Casework that chases the deadlines. Applications, appeals and conditions with their statutory dates.

The judgement stays yours. The tool gathers the material and dates it.