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Travellers who flattened woodland and paved over it win right to stay on site forever as council say they are powerless to intervene
Hertsmere Council says it will close its enforcement case over a cleared woodland site near St Albans, citing changes to national planning policy. The decision has angered nearby residents, who say the land is being used by people other than the family whose needs were central to a temporary permission granted in 2024.
The Planning Inspectorate allowed the family to stay for five years, until 2029, and required the woodland to be restored by then. Residents say the family has not been seen at the site, whose gates are chained, and that single men appear to be acting as caretakers. The council says national policy changes mean it is unlikely that restrictions limiting permission to named people or a fixed period would meet planning-condition tests.
In short
- Council closes enforcement case over cleared woodland near St Albans.
- Temporary permission was granted in 2024 for five years.
- Residents dispute who is using the site and say the woodland remains unrestored.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The council may be right that the revised national policy makes the existing personal and time limits difficult to enforce under the tests for planning conditions. Closing the case could avoid pursuing restrictions that are unlikely to withstand scrutiny, while leaving the site’s status to be addressed through the planning framework that now applies.
The case against
Residents can argue that the 2024 permission was a limited concession for a particular family, tied to restoring the woodland by 2029, and that enforcement should ensure those safeguards have practical effect. If the site is being used by others and the family is absent, closing the case risks undermining the permission’s purpose and leaving neighbours with little confidence that the land will be restored.
Explained simply
Hertsmere Council is the local authority responsible for planning enforcement in this part of Hertfordshire. The Planning Inspectorate, which decides planning appeals in England, gave a family temporary permission in 2024 to stay on a woodland site near St Albans for five years, with the land due to be restored by 2029.
Planning permission can come with conditions, such as limiting who may use a site and for how long. The council says national policy has changed in a way that makes such restrictions harder to justify, and plans to close its enforcement case; nearby residents dispute how the site is being used. The issue matters because it concerns how planning rules are applied and whether the woodland will be restored as required.
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