HC Deb 05 November 1958 vol 594 cc84-8W
Sir L. Heald

asked the Minister of Housing and Local Government and Minister for Welsh Affairs whether he will make a statement about the situation at the caravan site at Royal Hythe Farm, Egham.

Mr. H. Brooke

This caravan site is run by a company known as Modern Trailer Homes Ltd. The Company, or persons connected with it, have been running caravan sites in the same neighbourhood since March, 1955, at all times without planning permission, and in defiance of repeated attempts by the local authority to enforce the law against them. They have taken full advantage of the opportunities for delay in the enforcement provisions of the Town and Country Planning Acts, by moving the caravans from site to site and by repeated applications for planning permission and subsequent appeals to the Minister.

All these appeals were dismissed because the land in question is part of the green belt round Greater London, which the Surrey authorities have rightly made every effort to preserve. It is no use refusing to allow house-building on such land, if large numbers of caravans are allowed to establish themselves on it instead. In Surrey there are several thousands of caravans on authorised sites; a limit must be set at some point, or the green belt will steadily disappear.

Caravans were first placed on land at Royal Hythe Farm (which adjoins land previously used by the operators) in January, 1957. Warning notices had already been erected by the Egham Urban District Council outside the entrance to the site, explaining that it had not been approved as a site for caravans. In spite of these the number of caravans there rose to 156. Application for planning permission for the use of the site for caravans was made on the day on which the first caravans moved on to the site. It was refused. An appeal was then made to me. It was dismissed in July, 1957. Planning permission was later sought to put the caravans on another part of Royal Hythe Farm. This also was refused, and a further appeal against this decision was dismissed in April, 1958.

In view of all the circumstances, the Urban District Council applied to my right hon. and learned Friend the Attorney-General for his consent to the institution of proceedings in the High Court in his name for an injunction restraining the operators from using as a caravan site any land within the urban district without prior planning permission. My right hon. and learned Friend gave his consent and the proceedings were instituted.

The injunction sought was granted by the High Court on 5th June, 1958. The then Lord Chief Justice said that the history of the case showed that the defendants—namely, Modern Trailer Homes, J. S. C. Smith and Beatrice Pearlberg—intended to hold the Town and Country Planning Act at defiance as far as they could by repeatedly moving from one field to another, or from one part of the farm to another, applying for permission which they knew they would not get appealing to the Minister and each time getting a fresh public inquiry, held, in order that they could gain extra time during which they could retain caravans on the site and take the profits. He said that the defendants' actions showed an intention to use the machinery of the Planning Acts not for the purpose of making genuine applications for permission, but for the purpose of delay. He accordingly granted the injunction. The time allowed by the High Court for removing the caravans in compliance with the injunction expired on 5th October, 1958. As that date approached, the company applied for and obtained from the County Court orders for possession against the occupants of the 70 or so caravans still there; some 80 out of the original total of 156 had left, having presumably found alternative accommodation. The orders for possession expired on 1st October but have not far been executed, because of the resistance of the caravanners. A few more of the caravans have now gone, but I understand that some 59 remain. From their first arrival it must have been clear to the caravanners themselves, because of the warning notices erected by the Urban District Council, that the use of the land for caravans was not authorised. Nevertheless it is Modern Trailer Homes Ltd. and the other defendants in the High Court proceedings who must bear the main responsibility for the present difficulties.

The first and most important requirement now is that the law should he obeyed and the caravans removed from the land in compliance with the order the High Court.

At the same time I am anxious, as everyone must be, to avoid serious hardship to the occupants of the caravans.

The Surrey County Council have stated their willingness, as welfare authority, to provide temporary accommodation at a camp near Godalming for the families concerned. In addition, I have informed the County Council that, in the exceptional circumstances, it is in my view desirable to make an alternative site temporarily available to which those families who wished could go with their caravans; and that arrangements can he made, with the agreement of my right hon. Friend the Minister of Supply, for some Government-owned land at Childown Hall in Chertsey Urban District, some six miles from Egham, to be made available for this purpose. I have asked the County Council whether they would be prepared to make this site ready and manage it. I have also informed the Chertsey Urban District Council of this proposal, and asked for their views. I have explained to the authorities that any arrangement to use this land at Childown Hall would be a temporary measure to meet the exceptional situation, and would be solely for caravanners from Royal Hythe Farm who could not immediately make other arrangements. It might also be possible to provide temporary storage on this site for the caravans of any families who preferred to accept accommodation in the camp near Godalming.

By these means the injunction of the High Court can be quickly complied with, and none of the caravanners now there need be without a place to take his caravan.