A call to allow a holiday park in Amroth to move to having caravans all-year-round, which led to fears of a precedent that other parks would be able to operate without seasonal restrictions, has been refused.

In an application to the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, Amroth Castle Holidays Ltd, through agent Laister Planning Limited, sought a Certificate of Lawfulness for the use of land for the siting of static caravans for all year occupancy (including as a sole or main place of residence).

Local community council Amroth had objected to the call, saying a 12-month use license “would open the park to residential occupation rather than tourism and this was to be resisted”.

It also raised concerns including the application opening “an opportunity to change the caravans to chalets/lodges which are larger in size and will take up more room, potentially extending the area of the park and increasing density”.

It added: “No other caravan/lodge or chalet holiday parks in the Amroth community area of the National Park are allowed to offer 12 months residency on site and so approving this application would set up a precedent for other holiday parks to follow and operate without restriction.”

A supporting statement cited previous permissions at the site in 1967, 1970 and 1985; saying a condition in the latter approval which said the authority “does not authorise” the occupancy of caravans from January 10-Februrary 28 “does not impose a requirement or limitation on the occupancy but instead simply clarifies what the permission authorises”.

“Therefore, going beyond this occupancy would not be a breach of condition and any attempt to enforce it as a prohibition would struggle to identify a breach of planning control. Therefore, it is the applicant’s position that the seven week out-of-season period is not enforced by a planning condition and would be possible to extend such occupancy, provided that it does not amount to a material change use.”

An officer report recommending the certificate be refused, said: “The use of the land as a caravan site was established in the previous planning consents, as mentioned above.

“It was further established through these permissions that the caravans would be limited in number and locations within the site and would be occupied only as temporary accommodation, and not for any period between January 10 and February 28 in any year.”

Dealing with the point raised in the supporting statement, the report said: “Seasonal occupancy conditions are a long-established tool used by planning authorities to distinguish between holiday use and permanent residential occupation. The underlying principle is that a mandatory period of non-occupation breaks the continuity required for a property to be considered a permanent residence. This approach has historically been favoured by many local authorities because it is perceived as readily enforceable through simple site inspections during the specified closed period.”

It said all-year-round caravans at the site “would go above and beyond existing authorisations as established by the 1965, 1967, 1970 and 1985 planning consents,” adding it would “result in a definable character change to the site of a magnitude that would be sufficient to amount to a material change of use requiring planning permission”.

This refusal means that any proposal for year-round caravan occupancy at the site would need a formal planning application.

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