view - Breckland Council

Mr Chris Raine
Breckland Council
Elizabeth House
Walpole Loke
Dereham
Norfolk NR19 1EE
Dear Mr Raine
Yaxham Waters – Planning Application 3PL/2010/0183/F
Yaxham House
Norwich Road
Yaxham
Norfolk
NR19 1RH
Tel: 01362 696 805
Fax: 01362 854 249
ianrmartin@btinternet.com
31 st March 2010
Please take this letter as an objection to this planning application. The application
follows some 12 months of this applied for activity i.e. the sale of caravans and
motor-homes. The application was only forthcoming after a letter was sent to the
applicants informing them of enforcement action. The Application says the applied
for activity only started on 1 st November 2009. Whereas complaints to the Council
about caravan sales started in March, the Applicant’s own adverts saying “Yes we can
sell your caravan” appeared in the Dereham Times from June 2009, and you yourself
noted the activity when you visited the site in August 2009
The Design & Access Statement (D&SA) says that all pre-commencement conditions
related to the original permission have been discharged. To our knowledge the
required screening has not been discharged and the applicant has now missed the
second planting season since permission was granted. The highways conditions also
do not appear to have been completed as regards the visibility splay and that
enforcement action is being considered on this. The DAS also admits that the
sewerage arrangements have yet to be implemented. In addition the signage, now
including illumination, has not been approved and no application has been made. It
therefore beggars belief that a new planning permission for a new use should be
granted whilst there are so many outstanding matters on this site.
It is our opinion that this application changes the whole nature of the site. The
applicants original application was for holiday lodges, touring caravan pitches and
tent pitches. What was described as a high quality lodge park is now described as a
“Holiday Park”. It is quite clear that the applicant is now trying to get as many uses
on this site as possible – including marquee events as advertised at the front of the site
and at www.gocampinguk.co.uk , and for which there is no planning permission and
the retail area will be expanded if this permission is granted. . The site is bit-by-bit
becoming a commercial venue rather than a tourist location, which was the basis of
the original permission. It is this change to the nature of the whole site, which this
planning permission would cement, that means the this whole application is in effect a
“large site application” which should be considered by the Development Control
Committee rather be dealt with under delegated powers.

Other points for consideration:
- The driveway access to the rear of the buildings is confused/misleading.
Currently this is done by a new roadway that has been built to the south of the
shop. We understand the Council preferred this route to the original one,
because it removed the access from going along the side of the children’s play
area behind the cafe. Despite this, the applicant shows the original route as the
access to the new sales site, which is it to be?
- DAS says the proposed area is for limited numbers of caravans and motorhomes.
The area is stated to be 595sqm - the application form says 0.10 ha =
1,000 sqm. What is being applied for At say 10sqm for a typical
caravan/motor home and parked as behind Tesco, the applicant could have
dozens of caravans/motor-homes for sale. The applicant decried the slogan
“Caravan City” – but what have we got, Caravan City!
- The original permission deliberately limited the numbers of lodges (25),
caravans (15) and tents (15) so as to reduce the intrusion into the countryside.
The location of the proposed sales area is overtly intrusive. This is clearly
shown D&AS “Photographic Analysis” bottom photo visible from the B1135
coming out of Dereham and as you enter our village – even if the D&AS
contradicts this by saying there is little or no visibility because of the
buildings. The Applicant’s own photograph gives the game away.
- The use of 2m close-boarded fencing, which the applicant has already started
to be erected without planning permission, is alien and out of keeping with the
open nature of the Tud valley between Dereham and Yaxham. Within the
settlement boundary is one thing – but not in the midst of fields. The fencing
does not even do what it is intended to as the caravans clearly stick out above
it. If the applicant has to have the fence to provide security to sell caravans
and motor-homes, then he should not sell caravans and motor-homes.
- Why motor-homes? If the applicant had said he was going to sell second-hand
motor-vehicles when originally applying for the lodge-park then it must be
seriously doubtful as to whether permission would have been granted. On the
argument that these are ancillary to the main business, presumably the
applicant can then start selling 4x4’s and other vehicles because you need one
of these to tow a touring caravan.
For all these reasons we object to this application and believe it should be dealt with
by the Development Control Committee, rather than by delegated powers.
We would also add that if the Council is minded to permit caravan sales (the
permission should not include motor-vehicles – this is not a commercial site) then in
the light of the reasons for the limited number of caravans in the original permission
the cap of 15 caravans should be retained whether these are for sale or using the
touring caravan pitches.
Yours sincerely,
Ian & Susan Martin