A caravan and camping site,
not a permanent campsite
I acquired the dilapidated old buildings at Heacham with planning consent to turn them into three holiday homes by the beach. Nice little retirement project, I think to myself.
2017 - As cash flow became tight, I opened up a short-term summer pop-up campsite. The legislation states you can run a campsite (or anything else on your land) for 28 days with few limitations. We have a 2-acre plot of agricultural land but no cows to graze on it, so obviously I move forward to let it out to campers who want to camp on sunny days by the sea. To my surprise, I was inundated with guests in that season but found limitations on what I could operate in that 28-day period in August 2017.
2018 - I investigate the possibilities of becoming a certificated location with an umbrella company like Freedom Camping Club, Caravan and Motorhome Club, The Camping and Caravanning Club, or The Greener Camping Club. These allow you to be associated with them and obtain a certificate of operation.
Unfortunately, I was unable to obtain these for the 2018 season, so continued to operate under 28 day period. I was, at this stage, somewhat naive in the operation of campsites, and in some cases the scary people that attend campsites (alongside the otherwise more amicable and pleasant people).
At this stage of our usage, it was truly a barebones campsite. There was 1 toilet which was a chemical toilet, half the field was covered in thistles, and the fence often fell down, so guests woke up to the neighbour’s cows wandering around tents first thing in the morning. I believed we could only use a 10-metre plot along the side of the fence as the vast majority of our field was covered by Article 4 restricting our usage (I believed).
Luckily the customer did get themselves out but then went on to complain to the council about the campsite being non-adequate as a public facility/commercial facility. Throughout this season we were developing improved toilet blocks in the internal of an agricultural building where we were only using the internal to house some flushable toilets, washbasins, and showers (this is non-operational development and should not require planning consent as it is a permitted development use, not that I knew then as much as I know now).
So, the Environmental Quality Officer does a spot visit on us complete with clipboard and nametag, and makes notes on different issues which they come across. The odd cement board laying in the gravel becomes a toxic asbestos fibre board which could destroy the world, I felt was the point of the officer trying to make. The site was, at this stage, under development and as such there were building materials and tools which I was advised had to be fenced off to avoid members of the public falling into cement mixers. I believed I’d said yes and no in the correct areas and helped to satisfy the inquisitiveness of the officer.
This time I did my research and we obtained planning consent 3 months to the day for a toilet block. I now know as an older and wiser man that pre-approval development agricultural buildings would have given me permitted use rights from day one. Unfortunately, I didn’t know this at the time and unfortunately, I now know that the council (despite my understanding of how government operates) are not there to encourage young signpost businesses, nor to achieve a result in a proactive, non-biased position.
July 2020 - Just when I thought it was all over, the enforcement officer reappears in an email asking about whether we have removed infrastructure from the site. I explain we now have planning consent for the toilet block and now operate a certificated location. She advises, notwithstanding that info, that we still have enforcement notices still to be resolved. At this stage, I broke off communication because I felt that she was peddling utter nonsense and not progressing the case in any meaningful way.
August 2020 - Deep in the year of COVID, and we are very busy. There’s control of demand with increased prices, customers are very nervous about Covid, and we’re having to implement lots of cleaning regimes. The Government writes up documentation to the country to tell local governments and councils to be lenient with tourism and not pursue enforcement. Despite that advice, enforcement turns up, takes photos, and claims I’m in breach of this, that, and the other.
September 2020 - Another enforcement visit, again gathering information on my usage and how I may or may not have infringed on it. I expressed that I’m no longer a temporary or permanent campsite, I am a certificated location with the Camping and Caravanning Club. At this stage, she believed I exceeded my occupancy, at which I acknowledged I was operating under the limitations of the Camping and Caravanning Club, and was simultaneously operating under the COVID 56 days camping legislation, therefore NOT exceeding my allowance and being perfectly lawful in my operation. However, she didn't enforce against me for a camping and caravan site, she enforced against a permanent campsite. I explained that throughout the Covid period, permitted development for camping extended to a 56-day period, and since I undertook camping alongside the fence (which is outside Article 4) this means I had unlimited camping during the Covid period. Any vehicles on the site are based on a Camping and Caravanning Club Planning Exemption and are therefore allowed to be placed anywhere on my site (during this date range was 5 caravans and 10 tents).
I understand sections 75 to 78 regarding the conservation of habitat species regulation 2017. In fact, I got caught up in this subject matter 2 years ago and found myself in high court backpedalling as fast as I could to stop legal costs from exceeding, finally managing to stop them at £20,000. The key point on this legislation is - and let me dwell on the importance of this - quote:
"a project or plan must not begin until the local planning authority has approved a Habitat Regulation Assessment."
Now, as I've already said this was not a new planning application, this was a retrospective planning application, i.e. the plan or project already started in 2018. It is impossible not to start when it had already started. If the local authorities are to be correct on this issue then I would need a time machine to go back to the 30th of August 2018 and not start.
The interpretation of the local authority is ludicrous. I agree it's very important to ensure no damage is caused to the Designated Protected Areas, and in fact, no damage has been shown to occur over the last 5 years of my trading. To say I must not start something that had already started is impossible.
August 2022 - I received documentation to advise I’d be taken back to criminal court based on the operation of the site and failure to report on the infrastructure.
As the letter on the right suggests, I struggled time-and-time-again to get in contact with the appropriate bodies and discuss what was expected of me and an appropriate way forward.
I made many attempts with the goal of sorting out what I needed to do to operate the site lawfully.
In return, I was accused of criminal prosecution for which I intend to plead Not Guilty.
