THURROCK Council has refused permission for a caravan park to expand at a Linford visitor centre reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
An application for a certificate of lawfulness to site 36 mobile homes on land at Walton Hall Farm, Waltons Hall Road has been rejected by Thurrock planning officers.
Walton Hall Farm is a “mixed-use” visitor centre and caravan park on green belt land to the north of East Tilbury.
The complex features several buildings, including an indoor play area, café, retail and craft areas. It also includes an L-shaped building. The western end of the site consists of an open paddock used for caravans. This area and a strip of land on the northwest boundary of the site both currently have certificates of lawfulness and work is taking place to install permanent bases for new static caravans.
However, permission is for a total of 31 caravans and the latest application requests an increase in the number of units from 31 to 36 – five extra pitches.
The council fears that while the caravans are currently ancillary to the other buildings on the site, increasing the number to 36 would “tip the balance” and mean the site would become less of a visitor attraction and more of a caravan park.
A report by planning officers said: “Incremental increases are capable of bringing about a definable change of character. One such definable change of incremental increase in the number of caravans could tip the balance of the caravan use to become the primary or dominant use.
“If the impact of the extra caravans proposed by the application was considered by the council to result in the caravan use becoming the dominant or primary use, the rest of the site could fall to be considered as ancillary, thereby permitting further caravans to be sited on such areas, which could squeeze the viability of the other mixed uses, including visitor attractions, resulting in a further definable change in the character and nature of the site.”
