Shropshire woman denied the chance to do conversion work at her home near Oswestry to aid her elderly mother

Leigh Morris submitted an application to convert an existing outbuilding and build an extension to form an annex at her home in Treflech, near Oswestry.

Gavin Porritt, of Design and Planning Associates Ltd, said Mrs Morris had previously erected a static caravan at the property so that her elderly mother could live with her.

This, Mr Porritt said, was done on the advice that no planning permission was required as it fell under the permitted development rights. However, this was not the case as planning enforcers from Shropshire Council were made aware.

A Certificate of Lawfulness application was then submitted in July 2022.

“My client does not require planning permission to park a static caravan in her driveway or garden if it is being used as an annex of her home,” said Mr Porritt.

“This means it can be used as if it were part of the house (for example, an extra bedroom) by members of her immediate family or occasionally by friends but she understands that it cannot be hired out (for example, for holidays) or be used as a separate dwelling from her home.

“No new access has been made to a trunk or classified road, or that an existing access is altered. A new gravelled track on her property has been formed to provide direct access to her static caravan.

“The static caravan is not obstructing any footway or road, or that the view of drivers or pedestrians using an adjacent road is not blocked.”

However, the council deemed it ‘not lawful’ because it does not comply with the relevant legislation.

Mrs Morris came back with a proposal earlier this year to convert a disused outbuilding and to to form an extension which would encompass a similar floor area as the existing static caravan.

“The conversion and extension would be more appropriate in terms of its scale and style and would blend into the existing residential curtilage seamlessly,” said Mr Porritt.

However, Tabitha Lythe, planning and development services manager at Shropshire Council, said the accommodation ‘would not accord with the ancillary use’ and ‘has the appearance and functionaity of a separate independent planning unit’.

“The building would not appear sympathetic or subservient to the existing dwelling,” said Ms Lythe.