Heacham campsite row: owner insists site is lawful

West Norfolk Council is taking court action over the business on South Beach Road, at Heacham, which first opened in 2017.

Owner Nigel Marsh insists it is not an unauthorised permanent campsite, but an exempted caravan and camping site, which does not require planning permission.

Mr Marsh, 59, complained after he was described as a 'rogue developer' by councillor Terry Parish, who is now the authority's leader, at a planning meeting in December.

The council's monitoring officer investigated and decided no further action needed to be taken. 

Mr Parish said in his response to the complaint the site had never had permission "but has persisted for several years due to enforcement notices being ignored or appealed".

Borough councillor Terry Parish (Image: Matthew Usher)

He added: "Heacham Parish Council have always been opposed to it and the public do see it as a joke that it has been allowed to persist – they see it as an abuse of planning rules. The officer time and resources this matter has taken up is certainly not a joke.

"As he has little regard for rules which seek to control planning applications but does know how to use others to his advantage I would say, in the respect of planning, he is unprincipled, which is one definition of rogue."

The council's monitoring officer concluded: "The way in which Mr Parish has expressed his opinion is within the limits of free expression afforded to elected representatives."

Mr Parish said he could not comment further on the matter. A West Norfolk council spokesman said it also had nothing to add to the monitoring officer's findings.

Caravan and camping site owner Nigel Marsh (Image: Chris Bishop)

Mr Marsh is now being taken to court by the council for failing to comply with an enforcement notice requiring him to cease using the site as a permanent campsite.

But he insists it operates under an exemption as a caravan and camping site, which does not require planning permission.

"We operate a caravan and camping site, it's a different legal entity under different legislation," he said.

"That's my argument. This enforcement in legal terms is what's called waste paper."

Nigel Marsh's caravan and camping site at Heacham (Image: Chris Bishop)

Mr Marsh says the site was used as a campsite in the 1950s.

He said he changed to a caravan and camping site in September 2018 and was granted a five year exemption by Natural England in September, 2020.

While Mr Marsh awaits his day in court over the Heacham site, on July 19, he has also run into legal problems over other campsites he has tried to open at nearby Burnham Norton and Holme.

West Norfolk Council took legal action over the site in the Burnhams in 2021 and Mr Marsh must now prove it does not breach habitat regulations or harm an environmentally-sensitive area before he can allow camping on it.

A sign outside Nigel Marsh's site at Heacham (Image: Chris Bishop)

An injunction preventing the site at Holme from being used for camping has now lapsed.

But the council said while the injunction had ended that did not mean he now had permission.

Mr Marsh said he would be keen to open a campsite where it did not endanger sensitive areas but did not elaborate on his plans for Holme.

Debate has intensified in the tiny village after plans for 25 camping pitches off Beach Road, close to Mr Marsh's site south of the A149, were withdrawn after opponents said the village already had too many holiday lets, caravan and campsites and was in danger of being overrun.