Family buys rural plot in England, divides it into four for caravan living: now they must vacate due to lack of residential permit
Planning inspector Elizabeth Pleasant has ruled that caravans at Staalcot Farm near Pulborough, West Sussex, harm the rural character of the area and ...
Planning inspector Elizabeth Pleasant has ruled that caravans at Staalcot Farm near Pulborough, West Sussex, harm the rural character of the area and must be removed. Three owners – Tony Castle, William Hughes and Benjamin Keet – bought the land in January and subdivided it into four plots, placing mobile homes, towable caravans and small storage units despite the council having previously refused residential permission. Horsham District Council argued the settlement's scale and design caused landscape harm next to a public footpath. Pleasant dismissed the owners' appeal, acknowledging the lack of alternative accommodation for the families, including children, but concluding that landscape harm outweighed those factors. She suggested a smaller, better-integrated project could be considered in the future.