Sapey Golf and Country Club can keep holiday lodges

Sapey Golf and Country Club in Herefordshire has been told that the holiday lodges, which have been called caravans, by its course can stay.

The club, owned by multi-millionaire Alfie Best, had been in dispute with Herefordshire Council over whether the chalet-style lodges met the legal definition of ‘caravans’, for which planning conditions are less onerous, reports Hereford Times.

Best’s company Wyldecrest Parks Management applied in November 2020 for retrospective permission to allow part of the course to be used to site the three, identified as caravans for planning purposes.

Herefordshire Council’s planning officer said there was “clear doubt as to whether the structures on site do truly satisfy the [legal] definition of a caravan”.

One of them, ‘Carnoustie’, has a spiral staircase leading to a rooftop terrace, which “takes it outside the definition of a caravan and constitutes operational development”, which would then require more information on ecological impact and provision of drainage in order to be approved, the council initially ruled.

But Wyldecrest appealed against the council’s refusal, and now government-appointed planning inspector Richard Parker has backed the holiday parks firm’s bid to have the land changed to use as a caravan site.

Parker acknowledged from his appeal hearing that “residents contend this development is the thin end of the wedge, and that allowing this appeal would open the door to proposals for a larger caravan site over the type operated by the appellant elsewhere, including at nearby Saltmarshe Castle Park”.

The parties agreed on a condition limiting occupancy of the lodges to 28 days at a time by the same person or group, or six months per year, preventing their use becoming residential, he added.

However, he did agree with the council that ‘Carnoustie’ did not meet the legal definition of a caravan, meaning “it cannot lawfully be located on land for which planning permission has been granted for change of use to a caravan site”.

“Whether the unit can be made to comply by removing the spiral staircase and roof terrace is a matter for the parties to discuss outside of this appeal,” he added.

“The council has powers to seek the removal of the unit should that become necessary.”

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But “none of this precludes me from considering the planning merits of a change of use of the land to a caravan site for three caravans… set out on the application form”, for which he found “no material conflict” with the county planning policies cited by the council.

The inspector also made a partial award of costs against Herefordshire Council.

Wyldecrest took over Sapey Golf and Country Club for a reported £1.25 million in 2017 when it faced closure. The club has undergone significant improvements since.