Caravan installed without permission allowed to stay

The application, made on behalf of Mr and Mrs Kham, relates to the siting of a single static caravan and concrete base at Wells House Caravan Site, Wells House Farm, Ford Road, Cartmel.

Planning officers treated it as a retrospective proposal because the four-section lodge and its base had already been installed before the application was submitted.

The council’s decision notice, issued on 26 June 2026, confirms that planning permission has been granted subject to eight conditions.

Neighbours and the Cartmel Village Society objected in writing, raising concerns about the lodge’s scale, height, siting and impact on the Cartmel Conservation Area and nearby permanent homes.

In a letter to the case officer, resident Barry Dean said: “The caravan now present, sits outside the enclosed caravan park and is of a larger scale and height to that previously refused.”

He referred to an earlier planning refusal in 2018 for a large static caravan nearby in which the council concluded the proposed structure would be “visually jarring in appearance in the context of the vertically proportioned masonry and slate roofed buildings that form a conspicuous and distinctive element of this part of the Cartmel Conservation Area.”

Mr Dean also highlighted privacy and lighting issues, stating that access to the new lodge passes close to permanent dwellings and that its gable end faces directly towards neighbouring living rooms.

“Flickering from a large flat screen television can be clearly seen on dark nights,” he wrote, adding that “four external lights fitted to the gable as well as ten downlighters installed to both front and rear soffits are highly intrusive.”

Les and Charlotte Mitchell, who live nearby, submitted comments describing the lodge as “not only larger and taller than the others but […] considerably closer to the boundary and […] extremely conspicuous both from the adjacent properties […] and from the road bridge, the footbridge, the footpath along the river bank and Ford Road.”

They also remarked on the effect of rooflights and external lighting on the “very special dark sky in this part of the conservation area.”

On behalf of Cartmel Village Society, planning consultant Jonathan Vose wrote that the lodge is “a particularly large and tall caravan that will have an imposing impact on the surrounding area and its character and heritage significance” and that it is visible from the Royal Oak’s garden and central village bridges.

He argued that the proposal did not preserve or enhance the special character of the Cartmel Conservation Area and should be assessed against biodiversity net gain requirements because of its proximity to the River Eea.

The council’s permission restricts use of the caravan to holiday accommodation and expressly forbids it being used as anyone’s sole or principal residence.

A register of occupants must be kept and made available to the local planning authority on request.

Guests must be given details of the caravan park’s flood evacuation plan on arrival, as the site lies in Flood Zone 3.

Within six months, a native or evergreen hedgerow shown on the approved plans must be planted and maintained to at least 1.8 metres in height to provide screening and secure biodiversity net gain.

The caravan must be faced with dark green or dark brown cladding “to prevent harm to the wider visual amenity of the area.”

Within three months, details of all external light fittings must be submitted for approval, and a bird box must be installed on the site and retained for the duration of the use.