Extension of Ruda Holiday Park, Croyde

This was a challenge against the grant of planning permission for extended opening hours at Ruda Holiday Park in Croyde, Devon. The claim was brought 6 years after the grant of permission, which was based on an incorrect redline boundary plan.

In 2014, North Devon Council granted planning permission to extend the time limits during which the Ruda Holiday Park (owned by Parkdean Holiday Parks Ltd) could open. One of the conditions attached to the permission was that the development should be carried out in accordance with a redline boundary plan 6800-LP. The plan mistakenly included approximately 22ha of land which, before 2014, had no permission for caravans to be stationed and was outside of Parkdean’s control.

In January 2018, Parkdean applied for a lawful development certificate (LDC) for the stationing of caravans on part of the land incorrectly included in the redline boundary plan. The application was refused by the Council but granted on appeal by a Planning Inspector.

In June 2020, the Claimant, Croyde Area Residents Association, sent a pre-action protocol letter to the Council to challenge the grant of the 2014 permission on the basis that it was granted in error by reference to the incorrect map of the existing caravan site. The Council and Parkdean agreed that the planning permission had been unlawfully granted but Parkdean resisted the claim on the basis that it was statute barred, due to the grant of the LDC.

The claim was heard before Leiven J who found that the claim was not statute-barred, because s.284 of the TCPA 1990 did not debar a challenge to a planning permission which underlies the grant of an LDC and that any delay on the part of the Claimant and financial prejudice to Parkdean was outweighed by the harm to the surrounding AONB.

Parkdean applied for Permission to Appeal but eventually withdrew the appeal.