Challenge to validity of holiday lodges application

The Welsh Ministers consented to quash an appeal decision where it found that holiday lodges were not dwellinghouses, a finding the defendant accepted was directly inconsistent with the relevant Use Class C6 in the Town and Country Planning (Development Management Procedure) (Wales) Order 2012 (Wales DMPO).

This unusual case was brought by agreement of the GLD by way of Judicial Review and not the normal s288 following the refusal of Conwy County Borough Council to validate an application for change of use of land to the sitting of timber lodges to be used for short-term holiday lettings. The Welsh Ministers agreed that the erroneous finding that the lodges were not dwellinghouses would be material to the determination of the application “because the description of the lodges as “dwellinghouses” or not is crucial to the application of the DMPO.”

The case follows earlier proceeding by Mr Collins in 2020 concluded by Consent Order quashing a grant of permission by the Conwy County Borough Council for variation of conditions under s73 relating to holiday lodges that would increase the footprint of the lodges on the basis the variation permission was ultra vires.