Row over Pendle caravan park opening times

Members of Roughlee Parish Council raised concerns when the Forest of Pendle Leisure Park advertised it would be open all year.

After checking, town hall chiefs said the site was only licensed to open for eight months, seasonally between March 1 and October 3.

But managers of the Pasture Lane park hit back and said they had a second licence, issued by Pendle Council, to open all year.

According to park manager Kevin Chilton said: “We have a standard holiday licence which is for eight months.

“We also have an open licence which is for 12 months and we have copies of both at the park.”

Mr Chilton said there were residents at the park who had purchased new caravans on a 12-month licence.

Town hall chiefs said a letter has been sent to the park owners, explaining that, in their view, opening all year round was in breach of planning permission.

In a statement, Stan Healey, principal planning officer for Pendle Council, added: “The caravan park has planning permission which dates back to 1965.

“By opening all year round the current owners are in breach of this historic permission, which still stands.

“We have pointed this out to them and sent copies of the old permission, which they must abide by.”

Pendle Council said caravans would have to leave the site between November and January, despite having paid for the full year.

But Mr Chilton said he was “200 per cent certain” that would not happen because of the open licence.

Brian Nelson, chairman of Roughlee Parish Council, said the park being open all year would have implications for the village.

The owners of Pendle Valley Caravan Park in Roughlee sold one of their two sites to a national company in the last year.

After taking control of the Pasture Lane park around six months ago the firm changed its name to the Forest of Pendle Leisure Park.

The park is owned by the Hill Brothers, a family-run firm which offers static homes for rent, sale and hire in the UK and Canada.