Wirral families ordered to remove caravans and restore green belt plot
Three Traveller families who moved caravans onto a 0.9-acre green belt plot in Irby, Merseyside, have been ordered by Wirral Council to end the residential use and remove their unauthorised development. The decision matters because it requires the land to be restored after excavation and other works carried out without planning permission.
The council issued a temporary stop notice on 28 August and announced on 21 October that it had served a formal enforcement notice. Its requirements include removing caravans, vehicles, buildings, machinery and materials, then ripping up the groundwork and reseeding the soil; the council has not given a timetable. The plot’s freehold had been advertised for £90,000 to £100,000, but the listing was later removed, and it is thought to have been legally bought by the families.
In short
- Wirral Council has ordered the unauthorised caravan site cleared.
- The 0.9-acre plot must be restored and reseeded.
- The council has not said when the work must be completed.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
The council’s case is that green belt protections and planning rules need to be applied consistently, and that unauthorised residential development and groundworks can harm the land and undermine orderly planning. Requiring removal and restoration may be justified if the use lacks permission and cannot be made acceptable through a planning application.
The case against
The families may argue that enforcement should take account of their circumstances, including their need for a place to live and their apparent lawful purchase of the plot. They could also question whether removing the caravans and undoing the works is proportionate, particularly if a less disruptive remedy or a retrospective planning application could address the planning concerns.
Explained simply
Green belt is land around towns and cities where building is restricted to limit urban expansion and protect open space. Planning permission is usually needed before land is developed or used as a place to live.
Wirral Council is the local authority responsible for planning in the borough, including Irby, near Liverpool. Travellers are a diverse group of communities, some of whom live in caravans; owning land does not by itself mean that residential use or building work has planning permission.
Planning enforcement notices can require unauthorised development to stop and land to be restored. The case raises questions about how planning rules apply to privately owned green belt land and how councils enforce them.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Travellers who bulldozed greenbelt land and moved in caravans in ‘Bank Holiday land grab’ are ordered to rip up their work”.