A REQUEST to the Dartmoor National Park Authority for permission for all year around use of 27 static caravans at Magpie Leisure Park at Bedford Bridge near Horrabridge has been rejected by a planning inspector on appeal.

The application for the caravans to be lived in 12 months out of 12 was originally turned down by the Dartmoor National Park Authority in October 2020. Barton Park Estates, which runs Dartmoor Country Holidays on the site, then appealed to the Planning Inspectorate for a Certificate of Lawfulness for the ‘use of 27 static caravans for the purposes of human habitation as a person’s sole or main place of residence’.

However, planning inspector Andy Harwood has now turned down the application after saying the precedent for all-year around occupancy had not been established. There is currently a restriction on the site in that chalets, static holiday caravans and touring caravans may only be occupied between March 15 and November 15.

In turning down the application, the inspector noted that an earlier appeal in 2020 for the same site to expand the number of caravans and chalets to 80 units had also been turned down.