Traveller builds 'dream family home' over wildlife haven but admits he did not apply for planning permission

A 39-year-old Irish traveller has admitted to never seeking planning permission for an illegal caravan site he constructed over a seven-acre woodland area teeming with wildlife.

Michael Delaney transformed the site near Crawley Down, Sussex into an unauthorised encampment for his extended family, failing to seek planning approval because the process would prove "painstakingly difficult."

The site, which Delaney has called his "dream home," was first occupied last August when he and relatives laid hardstanding and installed static caravans, despite instructions to cease work.

By late September, six separate plots had been established on the land, accommodating Delaney alongside his children, grandchildren, nephew, a pregnant daughter-in-law and a newborn baby.

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A Planning Inspector has now rejected Delaney's appeal against an enforcement notice, condemning the development in the strongest terms and ordering the family to leave, The Daily Mail reports.

Paul Freer of the Planning Inspectorate said: "Michael Delaney not only knew that planning permission was required to station caravans for residential use, but also had foreknowledge that obtaining planning permission would not be straightforward.

"Yet this did not deter him from occupying the site without the benefit of planning permission."

Mr Freer described the land seizure as an "egregious example of intentional unauthorised development - blatant, contemptuous and egregious".

The family has been given three months to vacate the land, with a further six months to tear up the concrete hardstanding and return the field to its original condition.

In his appeal, Delaney argued the site provided his family with much-needed stability and warned that eviction would force them into a roadside lifestyle.

He also contended that removing the children from the property would violate their human rights.

Delaney said: "This site is a dream home for ourselves and I think it is a good site. We have done what we felt necessary to establish it nicely, and have set out development back behind the tree line, as opposed to in front of it."

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He shared his desire for the children to "grow up with a bit of freedom", with space to play football, cycle or ride horses safely.

Delaney complained that "every council around us has sadly failed to meet our communities needs" and that planning applications drag on for "years."

However, the Planning Inspector was "not convinced" that eviction would necessarily mean the family would be cast to the roadside.

Mid Sussex District Council noted the Delaney family had connections to authorised traveller sites, meaning there was no necessity for them to occupy the field illegally.

Local residents have long expressed concerns to the parish council, saying they felt "nervous not knowing who is living in close proximity to them."

The inspector also ruled that the development had damaged the "confined and intimate" character of the surrounding area.

The field in question serves as a habitat for protected great-crested newts.

Mid Sussex District Council welcomed the inspector's ruling and the compliance timetable, stating it is "now assessing the implications of the decision and considering its position in relation to the next steps."

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