Plans to run a campsite annually on the outskirts of Richmond have been put forward, despite a proposal for a pop-up site this summer being formally rejected.
North Yorkshire Council has ruled that proposals for a temporary campsite at Barn Close Field, in Maison Dieu, and at former playing fields off Easby Low Road, between Richmond and Easby Abbey, cannot benefit from permitted development rights and would require full planning permission.
The application sought to operate a campsite for up to 30 days during August, with a maximum of 50 pitches across two fields.
The decision brings the latest chapter in the planning dispute over the sites to a close after the council previously intervened to stop the pop-up campsite from operating.
An earlier application submitted in May had sought to use the land as a campsite for up to 60 days during the summer, again with a maximum of 50 pitches.
But the council concluded that permitted development rights did not apply to that proposal.
The latest scheme attracted objections from Richmond Town Council, Easby Parish Council, council officers and members of the public.
Historic England said permitted development rights did not apply because the proposed access extended into a scheduled section of Scots Dyke, an ancient linear earthwork.
The council’s highways team also raised concerns about access via Easby Low Road, describing it as a narrow single-track lane with no formal passing places and noting its heavy use by walkers.
Richmond Town Council objected because of what it described as the dangers of Easby Low Road, while the council’s Public Rights of Way team objected over the potential impact on a footpath forming part of the popular Easby Abbey Loop.
Several members of the public also objected, raising concerns including highway safety, noise, visual impact, the effect on the rural environment and archaeology, fire risks and the proposed 50 pitches. Questions were also raised about water supplies, toilets and rubbish collection.
However, the decisive issue was the site’s relationship with Scots Dyke.
Planning rules allow land to be used as a recreational campsite for up to 60 days a year, subject to conditions, without a conventional planning application.
But those rights do not apply on the site of a scheduled monument and council planners concluded that this exclusion applied.
They also said insufficient information had been provided to establish whether the campsite was within the curtilage of Grade II-listed St Nicholas.
Applicant Nick Green, from the St Nicholas Estate, has however filed a separate application seeking a certificate of lawfulness for a temporary campsite at the Barn Close Field site.
If approved, this would mean the owners could run a campsite for up to 60 days in any calendar year.
The applicant claims that the campsite can operate lawfully under permitted development rights because neither the campsite nor the route used by vehicles needs to encroach on the protected Scots Dyke.
Supporting documents state that four Historic England maps show the northern boundary of the monument differently, while the scheduled area itself is not marked on the ground.
This application is still being considered by the council.
A revised application to instal eight holiday cabins on the former playing fields site is also being considered.
