Objections fail to disrupt plans for caravan site

Applicants Andrew Scott and Dale Maloney have been given permission to continue to use the former Link End Caravan Park in Alnmouth for up to five caravans between May and October.

Rather than a planning application, it was a certificate of lawfulness application which sought to establish an existing use of the land.

A planning application for six mobile shepherds’ huts on the site was submitted in November last year, but withdrawn in February.

In March, the new application was lodged, which Mr Maloney says was based on advice from the planning department that the huts would represent a continuation of its previous use as a caravan park.

The planning officer’s report concluded that the council ‘has no evidence to contradict the applicant’s version of events and history of the use of the site’, describing the evidence as ‘sufficiently precise and unambiguous’.

However, this was disputed by objectors and the scheme sparked 88 objections as well as a petition of 298 names. There were 36 supporters.

Sue Graham, from the Friends of Bracken Hill and one of the main objectors, was again critical of how the application had been handled, saying: “None of the issues have been addressed.”

In May, a council spokesman said: “We have met the objectors to explain this process and we are listening to their concerns.”