An appeal has been lost to try and keep caravans for Gypsies, Travellers and refugees on a site on the edge of Cambridge. A planning inspector said the Grassy Corner Caravan Park, off Fen Road, had been expanded beyond what planning permission had been granted and did “not provide satisfactory living conditions for Gypsies and Travellers”.
Permission was originally granted for the caravan site back in the 1980s. A report said there were now 35 caravans on the site, with 11 of those on the original site and the others on land between that and the boundary of the River Cam towpath. An enforcement notice was issued by South Cambridgeshire District Council stating that hardstanding had been put down and caravans moved on to the wider site without planning permission.
The notice called for the caravans to be removed and the hardstanding taken up. A number of appeals were lodged against this enforcement notice and the matter was taken to the planning inspectorate to consider. The planning inspector said the appellants had told them that the site was providing pitches for Gypsies and Travellers, as well as Ukrainian refugees and asylums seekers, although the inspector said there was no supporting evidence for this.
The appellants argued the extended caravan site should be deemed lawful as they claimed there was permission for 23 caravans, which could not all fit on the original site. They also claimed there had already been “extensive pre-existing hardstanding” on the extended site.
However, the inspector said it was “far from certain” whether consent had been given for 23 caravans, and said the evidence provided did not support the appellant’s claims. They said: “Clearly the extended caravan site land has been open, vegetated and undeveloped for a considerable period.
“In my view, prior to the current development that land contributed positively to the aim and purposes of the green belt. The stationing of caravans and the associated infrastructure, hardstanding and domestic paraphernalia has had the effect of substantially reducing the openness of this previously undeveloped land.”
The inspector added that the extension of the caravan site was a “visually intrusive and urbanising form of development”, which they said “significantly diminishes the open and rural character of the countryside”. The planning inspector also questioned the suitability of the site to provide pitches for Gypsy and Traveller families.
They said: “On layout, this has apparently been designed to comply with caravan site licensing conditions for residential sites. It might well do so in terms of caravan spacing, but in my experience it would not provide satisfactory living conditions for Gypsies and Travellers, who are, by definition, persons of nomadic habit of life.
“At a very basic level, there is no pitch demarcation, no space for touring caravans, no provision of sanitary facilities outside of the static caravans, typically a cultural necessity, and no facilities for children’s play. The very basic and stark layout has, in my view, had no regard to the needs of Gypsies and Travellers.”
The inspector recognised there was an unmet need for Gypsy and Traveller homes in South Cambridgeshire and said they gave this “significant weight” in making their decision. However, the inspector said the harm caused by the development was “very substantial” and could not be outweighed by the need for more pitches in the area.
The inspector upheld the enforcement notice and said people had six months to move. They added that there was a high turnover on the site, which they said suggested that many people were looking for somewhere else to live. The inspector said they would allow a longer time period for the hardstanding to be removed.