PLANS to provide permanent homes on a former holiday park in Shaldon have been refused.

Teignbridge Council planning officers have rejected an attempt by the owners of Devon Valley Holiday Park to allow the use of caravans on the site as full time homes.

The council has confirmed that the proposed use of caravans at the Ringmore Road park for 'human habitation’, including as a sole or main residence, would not be lawful and would be in breach of existing occupancy conditions imposed under previous planning permissions dating back to the 1980s and 1992.

In the decision notice, Teignbridge Council said: ‘The proposed use of caravans for human habitation of any type, including as a person’s sole or main place of residence, would constitute a material change of use requiring planning permission.’

The decision follows objections against the move from both villagers and Shaldon Parish Council which strongly objected to the application.

It said to grant it would ‘clearly be to allow a material change of use for the site’.

It a statement to planners, the parish council said: ‘The Parish Council notes that planning permissions granted on the site in the past have stipulated that residency would only be permitted between March and January, not all year round.

‘Devon Valley has therefore been used as a holiday park only for many years, never for all year-round residential use.’

A total of 10 letters of objection were received by Teignbridge Council raising a number of points.

It was claimed the change would be harmful to the local environment and that it was not clear whether the application was for proposed or existing use.

It was stressed that the site had been used as a holiday park for many years and was always a seasonal business, operation from Easter to October er which is ‘central’ to the character and function of the site.

Objectors said the park would not support permanent residential use and that allowing year-round occupation would ‘fundamentally alter the site's purpose and disrupt its intended use’.

Great staring on local infrastructure and changing the ‘dynamics and character’ of the site were other complaints against the application.

The current owners had applied for a Certificate of Lawfulness claiming there no conditions imposed on previous planning permissions, and no ‘enforceable’ condition on how the caravans can be occupied.

But planning officers said: ‘It is considered the materially different level and pattern of traffic movements to and from the site and the changes to the character and appearance of the site, such as the introduction of permanent features such as fences and hedges to demarcate plots, and ancillary domestic structures such as garden sheds, patios and decking would be true at Devon Valley Holiday Village if the caravans were to be occupied for permanent residential use rather than for holiday use.’