The owners of a holiday park in Shaldon have applied for a legal certificate to establish whether planning permission is needed to replace existing chalets with static lodges.

The application for a Certificate of Lawfulness covers an area of Coast View Holiday Park, identified as ‘Area 1’, where holiday accommodation has been in place for decades.

Coast View Holiday Park has operated as a camping and caravan site since the 1960s and has a long planning history.

A major planning permission granted in 2012 allowed the use of land for the stationing of static caravans for holiday use throughout the year.

That permission, reference 12/01457/MAJ, covered the whole park and was later varied in 2018 to allow an alternative landscaping scheme.

The applicant says the 2018 decision is now the park's definitive planning permission.

The 2012 application divided the site into five areas. Areas 2, 3 and 4 have subsequently been developed with static holiday units, while Area 5 was developed after the council granted a Certificate of Lawfulness in 2019 for the stationing of 31 static units.

The latest application relates to Area 1, which was identified in the 2012 plans as containing 91 existing chalets and static units.

Teignbridge Council are expected to make a decision by November 11.

Under Section 192 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, the applicant is asking the council to establish that a separate planning permission is not needed to station static holiday units in this part of the park.

The application states that there are no planning conditions attached to Area 1 restricting its use.

It says the existing holiday chalets have been on the site for many decades and now need replacing.

With the wider park predominantly occupied by static units, the applicant proposes replacing the older chalets with what it describes as similar high-quality static lodges already found elsewhere at Coast View.

No specific number of replacement lodges has been proposed at this stage, as the applicant says the final layout has not yet been determined.

The council will now consider the evidence submitted with the application, before deciding whether the proposed use is lawful for planning purposes.