A traveller family living on a caravan site built without planning permission has been given a final deadline by councillors before enforcement action can begin.
Members of Teignbridge District Council’s planning committee agreed to give the site owners until Friday, June 12 to submit a fresh planning application for land at Berry Park, Dainton, near Ipplepen.
Councillors heard the site, which sits beside the railway line, had been transformed from agricultural land into a residential caravan site without permission being granted first.
Steven Hobbs, senior planning enforcement officer at Teignbridge District Council, said the authority first received complaints around a year ago after caravans appeared on the land.
He told the committee on Tuesday, May 12 that an application submitted in October last year had never been validated because of missing drainage and ecology information.
Mr Hobbs said: “We had a complaint about 12 months ago of people moving on to a site adjacent to the railway line at Dainton and setting it up for a residential caravan park for gypsies and travellers.
“An application was submitted in October of last year, but it was never validated because of drainage issues and ecology issues.
“Following my meeting last week with the agent on site, they are proposing to get another application in within a month which addresses the issues of why it was invalidated the first time.”
He added that the site was occupied by one extended family made up of up to 11 people, including a newborn baby.
A report presented to councillors stated six caravans had been placed on the land alongside areas of hardstanding and day rooms. Officers also raised concerns over the potential impact on wildlife, drainage and the nearby Stoneycombe Quarry.
The committee heard local residents had also raised concerns about traffic movements linked to the site.
Cllr David Palethorpe said the case went “to the very heart” of the council’s responsibility to uphold the integrity of the planning system.
Cllr Palethorpe said: “We are dealing with a very clear and flagrant breach of planning control.
“This is agricultural land in the open countryside and it has been transformed without permission into a residential caravan site containing multiple caravans, hardstanding and associated structures.
“This is not about opposition to a gypsy and traveller community. What this is about is traveller sites, if they are appropriate, acceptable and properly planned and assessed, are acceptable.”
He added: “We cannot be in a position where any person or family or group can simply occupy land, go into operational development and then ignore planning controls.”
Cllr Phil Bullivant supported the recommendation but said councillors also had to recognise “we have a family involved here”.
He said: “We have to be reasonable in terms of the family, giving them time to be able to submit an appropriate application.”
Cllr Andrew MacGregor said councils nationally had failed to provide enough permanent and temporary sites for travellers.
He told the meeting: “We do find ourselves as a council forcing people to take these actions because we fail as a council repeatedly to deliver what we say we are going to deliver in the local plan in terms of both transient and permanent sites for travellers and gypsies.”
Cllr Suzanne Sanders said while the site appeared “pleasant” and “comfortable”, planning rules still had to be followed.
She said: “We cannot have people just deciding to take a piece of land and convert it without adhering to the statutory rules that we all have to follow.”
Committee chairman Cllr David Cox also asked officers whether the family’s rights under Article Eight of the Human Rights Act, covering family life, had been considered.
Mr Hobbs confirmed the issue had been taken into account as part of the enforcement process.
Councillors voted to delegate authority to officers to issue an enforcement notice if no valid application is submitted by the deadline, or if any future application is refused.
The proposed enforcement action would require the residential use to stop, caravans and associated items to be removed and the land restored to grass within six months.
