[Stiggy]

Right this is a long story!

I live in a nice area of Scarborough house prices on my street are around 250-300k so it a nice street. In front of the house when we moved in was a caravan park for holidays, only families used to go and it was no bother at all. But it all changed.

The guy that owns the caravan site apparently got planning permission to allow people to stay there all year round. We have had nothing through the door and neither have are neighbours. He has then removed all but 3 static caravans which are now being lived in by people. Police are turning up most nights and they are speeding backwards and forwards past our house with cars running on chip fat( you can imagine the type of people we are dealing with) they also have a generator running most nights.

The next thing we have heard is that they havnt got planning permission to live there all year so the guy gives them a new contract every 6 months to avoid that law. That seems fraudulent to me. They have been adding standard caravans and now horses and chickens and it looks like a gypsy camp.

We then got news that they are leaving as the guy that owns the land has now sold it...to gypsies.

Does anyone know about laws on living in a caravan site all year, of if these guys are breaking the law in any way? I have tried ringing the counsil but they said they are allowed to be be there and that we should not have any problem.

I'm really annoyed because we pay huge counsil tax bills and rates to live here and they are living there and worse still not working.

Any help or advice without the use of an airel bombardment would be really great.

Joe

 

[Black Sheep]

Poor fella! No idea from me apart from hounding your local MP. Good luck and act quickly before they get more rights!

 

[g10far]

As far as I'm aware if they do not have planning then they are fooked!

I dont know the proper ins and outs of this subject, but I work with a lot of housing developers who always say how hard it is to get planning consent.

They usually give planning easier if they are going to benefit eg. development of lets say and apartment block that has no residential parking, which encourages people to use public transport etc etc. The owner has not applied for planning as he knew he wouldnt get it!

If you have spoken to your council and they are aware of the issue then I guess you need to wait and see the outcome. Unfortunately (most) councils are very slow in sorting out these issues, so I will get sorted but not immediately.

Residents are always the ones (apart form the council planners) that can stop an application, I've seen it a hundred times before. Speak to your neighbours and try and put a petition together, usually helps!

 

[nickw35572]

Contacting your MP, and getting your neighbours to do the same, sounds like a good idea.

 

[StevenC]

Gypsies are an absolute ball ache because there's a lot of technicalities that they can throw up depending on how long they've been there and what agreements they have with the land owner etc. However basically you can't put up a "permenant structure" of a certain size, especially that's liveable, without planning permission whether it be your land or someone elses. Caravans are a bit of a grey area with this though.

If I were you, I wouldn't bother with the Police because they usually don't want to know when it comes to these folk and go to your MP / Councillor.

As said already, it won't be resolved overnight!

 

[Stiggy]

Thanks for the help guys, I might get some sneaky photos as you will be amazed at the mess they have caused. Its annoying as we really want to sell the house but there will be no chance.

 

[Stiggy]

Update: All the current caravan dwellers have buggered off as they were threatened by the new owners (gypseys) to leave otherwise they will burn it down...well they did. last night, 2 fire engines, 4 police cars turned up. Going to speek to the local MP about it.

 

[Black Sheep]

Sh-te! And they moaned about hostile treatment at dale farm! Sums them up. You must be having nightmares watching your home become worthless.