Resident threatens legal action if caravan housing approved between Chichester and Bognor Regis

The resident, who lives in Lower Bognor Road in Lagness, said they would file an injunction against the existing caravan site to stop its further development and expansion, and believes that the council had not done proper due diligence to assess the application’s strength.

The application is for retrospective permission for four permanent mobile homes for people struggling to afford a home, with an identical proposal being refused in April over biodiversity and fire safety concerns, which council officers saying these points have since been addressed.

The resident blamed the caravan site for creating anti-social behaviour since issues started in 2017, and damage to the one joint access road into his property with lorries and mobile homes on to a road built for just his and the neighbouring property – with his home being Grade II heritage listed.

In an objection to the council he said: “I have now requested that my solicitor engage a barrister to seek an injunction should you consider approving this application and I will seek financial damages via the ombudsman or other routes against ADC, should you approve this unlawful development after fully knowing the circumstances.

“I accept that [the applicant] and her family/friends have the right to access her field and I have not disputed this, but she does not have the right to access mobile homes in her garden and use our land as her own driveway and neither do her tenants.”

He said the applicant would be using his land and the whole site was private land, not public access, with the official gated access being owned by him – claiming another was installed without his permission by the applicant.

He also claimed the council had not enforced a previous order for the applicant to stop development on the site.

The council officers stated on land ownership, that members were to judge the planning application and not make a judgement on a civil law matter, as this was an issue out of their jurisdiction.

Officers said: “The presence of a planning permission does not allow the person/s benefiting from that permission to use or misuse land that does not belong to them.”

No objections from official bodies were submitted, with West Sussex County Council Highways and WSCC Public Rights of Way stating there were no issues, only that public footpath access be respected by the development.

The applicant said the land was mostly joint access, with a public footpath running through it, and this application was designed to help people find accommodation.

Four letters of support were received for the development from tenants or previous tenants saying it had helped them avoid homelessness and gave them stability in their lives.

One letter said: “Without this mobile home which is not affordable but in a location that is convenient and meets our needs, I really have no idea how we would have survived.

“The future outlook was pretty bleak until we found this affordable housing alternative – Lagnersh has been crucial in our survival as the alternatives were living on the streets.”

To view details of the plans visit https://www.arun.gov.uk/planning-application-search with reference code P/80/23/PL.