What next for the Bunker?
In mid-March, Hastings Borough Council (HBC) finally ordered the notorious ‘Bunker’ at Rocklands Caravan Park to be demolished. Where does that leave the planning permission (known as ‘952’ after its planning reference) that caused all the fuss? Bernard McGinley hears from the Save Ecclesbourne Glen group about what could happen next.
Across the borough there were celebrations that HBC had finally served an enforcement notice on the owners of Rocklands Caravan Park to demolish the partially built two-storey house known as the ‘Bunker’. Over a year ago the members of the Save Ecclesbourne Glen group (SEG) began a mission to oppose the appalling eyesore, given planning permission under the Council’s ‘delegated powers’, after an identical application had been refused.
Following hundreds of objections (that the Council chose to underreport), in June 2014 SEG got planning permission refused for the changes to the building. Even so, the notorious 952 remains current, according to HBC — and is arguably not due to lapse until 2016 or even later, though some legal opinion is of a different view.
In October 2014 SEG got the Council to issue a tree protection order on the entire site saving all the remaining trees. In March 2015, when there were even more objections than in the summer of 2014, the planning committee refused – again – to give retrospective approval to the building.
“It’s been a long struggle achieved through the support – both moral and financial – of hundreds of SEG members and supporters from Hastings and beyond,” an SEG committee member said. “But we still have a long way to go. This has never been just about the building: it’s about the whole of the Country Park and how we are going to pass it on to future generations.”
SEG’s current objectives are:
1. That any appeal fails and the Bunker is demolished;
2. That planning application 952 – the central planning permission – is never fulfilled and built;
3. The removal of all unauthorised structures and debris on Rocklands’ lower slopes so that they cannot slide into the Country Park;
4. The replanting of all the screening trees and hedgerows that were removed (however long that takes);
5. HBC to investigate and take action over illegal tree felling and hedgerow clearance by the Rocklands owners;
6. HBC to investigate more fully the irregularities in the running of the caravan site, and a professional assessment to be published on their possible contribution to the landslide that has closed the right of way at Ecclesbourne Glen;
7. The slopes below Ecclesbourne Glen to be made stable and footpaths reopened, so that the Park is again fully accessible from end to end;
8. To keep a watching brief over all developments within the Park to ensure that such damage never happens again.
Nibble development affecting the Country Park has been noticed, as reported here, and there is concern that worse is to follow. If parts of the Lake District can be sold off, what hope for Hastings?
Continued support for the Rocklands/Ecclesbourne Glen campaign is important in defending what there is, which is in danger of being lost. See SEG’s website or contact them via info@saveecclesbourneglen.org.
The need for vigilance is unending. After the planning committee meeting of 4 March that discussed three Country Park cases, it was made known by HBC that the recording system had failed and so the usual disk of the proceedings was not available. This has happened before and is beginning to look like more than carelessness.
Hustings A meeting at which parliamentary candidates from the main political parties will explain their policies and field questions on planning and environment-related issues such as housing and flooding has been arranged by RIBA at the Town Hall on Wednesday 8 April, starting at 4.30pm. Tickets can be obtained here, though they are fast running out.
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1 Comment
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What I most love about this farce is that a few years ago when I was an RTPI member they sent round a research questionnaire to all planning authorities with large caravan parks and the reply from HBC was that ‘ we never have any problems with caravan parks’!!
Comment by ken davis — Wednesday, Apr 8, 2015 @ 20:53