Issue - meetings

Part retrospective: change of use of land for the stationing of caravans for residential purposes for 5 no. gypsy pitches (10 statics) including formation of hardstanding and landscaping at Little Lily, Toms Lane, Kings Langley.

Recommendation: that part-retrospective planning permission be approved.

The application was part retrospective for change of use of land for the stationing of caravans for residential purposes for 5 no. gypsy pitches (10 statics) including formation of hardstanding and landscaping at Little Lily, Toms Lane, Kings Langley.

For the benefit of the committee, the Planning Officer summarised that the application followed the grant of planning permission in 2025 for a change of use of land for the stationing of caravans for residential purposes for five pitches with a brick-built day room.  When assessed against national planning policy at the time, the development was considered to comprise inappropriate development in the Green Belt.  However, there were Very Special Circumstances which led to its approval, subject to a personal condition to named individuals and their resident dependents. The principle of the use of the land as a traveller site had therefore already been established.

With regard to the current application, the site was no longer considered to be inappropriate in the Green Belt following the introduction of the December 2024 version of the NPPF.   Instead, the site was considered to be Grey Belt whilst also meeting paragraph 155 of the NPPF. On this basis, the officer recommendation excluded the personal condition, as personal circumstances were no longer material to the acceptability of the scheme. 

In terms of the differences between the previously permitted scheme and the current application, the Planning Officer clarified that there would be no increase in the number of pitches, which would remain at five.  However, each pitch would no longer include one static caravan and one touring caravan, but instead two static caravans, with one providing residential accommodation and the other ancillary day room facilities. Accordingly, the previously permitted brick-built day room was no longer proposed as part of this application.  In total the application sought to permit ten static caravans across the application site, equating to the five pitches as previously permitted, with recommended conditions to control the use and number of caravans.

Committee Members asked questions about the details of the application which were responded to by officers.  The Committee’s discussions included the following:

·        Concerns had been raised locally about both the number of caravans and the number of people who would be residing at the site.  The Planning Officer confirmed that an existing enforcement case was open, and additionally that the site would likely be subject to ongoing monitoring by Environmental Health as part of the regular licencing arrangements for traveller sites.  In the event that it was found during such a visit that residency or accommodation limits were being exceeded, then the recommended conditions would enable the local planning authority to serve breach of condition notices, against which there was no right to an appeal.  The Planning Officer also commented that the site layout was constrained by the distances between the caravans themselves.  Any additional caravans above the permitted number for the site would potentially breach fire safety regulations and result in enforcement action on the grounds of fire safety concerns.

·        With  ...  view the full minutes text for item 160