Devon CPRE welcomes the decision to quash planning consent for a travellers’ site in Charles, a rural hamlet in the North Devon countryside near Brayford on the edge of Exmoor.
On behalf of local residents, Devon CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) challenged the decision made by North Devon Council’s Planning Committee on 27 May, which regularised the encampment of several traveller caravans on an agricultural field, and requested a Judicial Review of the decision on several grounds relating to the environmental effects of the encampment. Two of the four grounds argued were conceded by the Council, and so the consent was formally quashed by the High Court on 6 October.
“This decision is the right one, and the only fair one,” said Devon CPRE Chairman Steve Crowther. “This encampment was set up with no authorisation, in a field adjacent to a village of fewer than 50 residents. The occupants demolished a hedgebank to create a new entrance and made serious alterations to the site without planning permission. Most importantly, Devon Highways strongly opposed retrospective consent for the site on safety grounds.
“The Council chose to grant part-retrospective consent because it said it had insufficient designated GRT (Gypsy, Roma and Traveller) sites in North Devon. This is no way to run a planning system. The planning laws should apply to everyone equally, and should be enforced. If this isolated rural site had been proposed as a GRT site it would have failed to meet the planning criteria on multiple grounds. As it is, the Council has admitted that it failed to require a Biodiversity Net Gain commitment from the applicants or a Wildlife Report for the site.
“CPRE has been fighting for 100 years to ensure that rural communities have a robust and even-handed planning system that protects our landscapes and rural assets, while allowing law-abiding citizens to undertake necessary and appropriate developments with democratic consent. Almost all of the planning laws and protections that stand behind rural communities were originally devised and driven into law through the efforts of CPRE.
“We will not stand by while people flout those laws.”
A local resident who didn’t wish to be named added: “We are incredibly grateful to Devon CPRE. They listened to the local community and were prepared to help us. We were shocked when the council permitted it. The council may well have to provide a certain number of pitches across the district, but it doesn’t mean this is the right location for one! It isn’t. We are so glad the Court made this decision.”