Planners have granted temporary permission to station caravans. On Thursday, Rother District Council’s planning committee approved an application seeking retrospective permission to station a pair of caravans on land in Netherfield Road near Battle for the next three years. While acknowledging the scheme would “harm” the High Weald National Landscape, officers had recommended approval both because of the personal circumstances of the applicants and the district’s lack of alternative Gypsy and Traveller sites.
A very similar recommendation had seen the proposals gain temporary permission in June last year, although this consent was quashed in February as a result of a judicial review application from the campaign group RAUDIN (Residents Against Unauthorised Development in Netherfield). Bernard Brown, a representative of RAUDIN, spoke against the latest application and argued the full weight of its harms had not been properly considered by the council. He said: “At your site visit (.
..) you saw many signs of inappropriate development, but what you did not see was the poor state of the site just a few weeks ago.
.. the poor condition of the site is not hearsay, it is witnessed through pictures included in my written objection.
“The applicants have been on the site unlawfully for four years. Another three years would mean their temporary use would be for at least seven years. There is nothing to suggest they would leave at the end of that period; their actions suggest .
