Bay View Farmers, Woolacombe, EX34 7HG

described as ‘Proposed siting (amended to use of the land for the stationing) of 167 touring caravans, static caravans, camper vans and tents, with the proportion of each unrestricted, for tourist accommodation

Authority: North Devon District Council
Appeal type: ldc · Lawful Development Certificate
Procedure: Inquiry
Development: leisure-sport · Major traveller and caravan pitches
Inspector: King T

Main issues, as the Inspector framed them

The main issue in this appeal is whether the Council's decision to refuse the LDC was well founded.

What decided it

The unrestricted proportion of unit types, permitting a substantial increase in static caravans beyond the single unit allowed under the existing lawful use, would amount to a material change in the definable character of the use.

Judgments cited: R v Thanet DC and Kent International Airport plc ; ex p Tapp and Britton [2002] PLCR; Hertfordshire County Council v SSCLG and Metal and Waste Recycling Limited [2012] EWCA Civ 1473; Breckland DC v SSHCLG & Plum Tree Country Park [2020] EWHC 292 (Admin); Reed v SSCLG & Another [2014] EWCA Civ 24; Broxbourne BC v SSE [1979] JPL 308; Waltham Forest LBC v SSETR & Tully [2002] EWCA Civ 330; Barton Park Estates Ltd v SSCLG and Dartmouth National Park Authority [2022] EWCA Civ 833; St Anne's Court Dorset Ltd v SSHCLG & Anor [2021] EWHC 2954

Read the decision letter on the Inspectorate’s site

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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.

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