No-go for call to keep Pembrokeshire caravan park operating

Bruce Sinclair – Local democracy reporter

A call to allow a caravan site to continue operating at more than five pitches has been turned down despite being recently allowed to keep an associated toilet/shower block.

In an application before Pembrokeshire County Council, Mrs Hodge sought permission for a lawful development certificate for a camping and caravan site at The Stables, Simpson South Farm, Simpson Cross.

A lawful development certificate, sometimes called a certificate of lawfulness, allows an applicant to keep a development if they can provide proof of occupancy or use over a prolonged period, in this case for use of the land as a campsite between March and November each year for 25 touring caravan pitches and unlimited tent and motorhome pitches.

Shower block

The site itself was, last year, granted a certificate of lawful development for a campsite toilet/shower block built without planning permission, in part due to the support of former council leader Cllr Jamie Adams.

However, a previous application for a certificate of lawfulness for the campsite itself was refused in late 2023, an officer report saying of the latest application: “When considering the appropriate timescale, the ten-year time limit applies to breaches of planning control involving any material change of use of the land (other than a change to use as a single dwellinghouse) and to any breach of condition.”

In 2009 a planning enforcement investigation was closed as the site was operating lawfully as a certificated site, with the applicant’s agent suggesting that the site has been used in excess of the five pitches allowed under the exemption certificate, allowing it to claim lawful development.

It says the certificate of lawfulness for the toilet block is claimed by the agent to demonstrate “that the site has the lawful facilities to support a camping and caravan site” but “it does not provide robust evidence” that the site has been operating outside of the exemption certificate.

Pitches

It finishes: “With regard to the evidence submitted with the application, it has not been demonstrated, on balance, that the use as a caravan and camping site for 25 touring caravan and unlimited tent/motorhome pitches has existed unauthorised and uninterrupted for the required timeframe (10 years) prior to the date of submission, and as such a certificate of existing lawful use cannot be issued.”