The government official said West Norfolk Council's refusal to grant Nigel Marsh a lawful development certificate for his business on the South Beach Road at Heacham, near Hunstanton was "not well-founded".

Mr Marsh, who said he would have taken the matter to the High Court had the inspector not found in his favour, said: "It's the council's job to approve development, not stand in the way of development - especially if it's the tourism industry which this county relies on.

Nigel Marsh opened his site in 2018 (Image: Chris Bishop)

(function (d, s, n) { var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; js = d.createElement(s); js.className = n; js.src = "//player.ex.co/player/9eb68dce-e5e3-40c3-a31b-12479fdb5350"; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs); js.setAttribute('programmatic', 'true'); js.onload = function () { const playerApi255527 = ExCoPlayer.connect('9eb68dce-e5e3-40c3-a31b-12479fdb5350'); playerApi255527.init({ "autoPlay": false, "mute": true, "showAds": true, "playbackMode": "play-in-view", "content": { "playFirst": [ { "title": "Nigel Marsh wins appeal", "src": "https://large-cdn.ex.co/transformations-account/production/4a3bc053-9182-43c6-a264-62b0fb218ea8/9d417787-540d-4918-8829-64a0f6a93a6e/720p.mp4" } ], "playlistId": "649d6b165f10d8001259835d" }, "sticky": { "mode": "persistent", "closeButton": true, "pauseOnClose": true, "desktop": { "enabled": false, "position": "bottom-right" }, "mobile": { "enabled": false, "position": "upper-small" } } }); }; }(document, 'script', 'exco-player'));

"I end up spending all my time trying to deal with this red tape. It's extremely frustrating and it's difficult to comprehend and understand.

"I think there's certainly a situation where somebody wants to stop us from trading. I think that somebody is certainly within the parish of Heacham.”

Mr Marsh declined to say whether the remark was directed at former West Norfolk Council leader Terry Parish, who called him "a rogue developer" after the row over the site first blew up three years ago.

Mr Parish accused him then of abusing planning rules, adding: "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."

Terry Parish, West Norfolk councillor for Heacham (Image: West Norfolk council)

Mr Marsh complained to the council's monitoring officer about the slur, but the official decided no further action was needed.

They 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: "I suppose I should feel gratified that Mr Marsh thinks I have managed to delay his acquisition of a lawful development certificate. If only I had such powers.

"The delay has been caused by repeated applications which planning officers either considered unlawful or which required amendments or conditions.

A view across the campsite near the South Beach at Heacham (Image: Chris Bishop)

"I have every confidence in the planning officers of the local planning authority and if they think that Mr Marsh should not have a lawful development certificate then I agree with them.

"The fact that a single planning inspector can weigh in and dismiss the balanced views of at least equally qualified local experts is just indicative of an autocratic system of state control."

Mr Parish stood down as chair of West Norfolk's planning committee after he was found to have breached the council's code of conduct by emailing his deputy instructions during a planning meeting which he was unable to attend.

An investigation last May found "the nature and timing of the emails could be interpreted as attempts to unduly influence the decision-making process".

The caravan site is close to Heacham South Beach (Image: Chris Bishop)

When West Norfolk turned down Mr Marsh's lawful development status down in 2024, six years after it opened, the council cited habitat protection rules, which say development likely to have "a significant effect on a protected European site" must not be carried out until the developer had received written approval from their local planning authority.

But the inspector said Mr Marsh had carried out a survey saying the land was of "low ecological value" and the habitat rules would not apply if the development was not likely to have a significant effect on a protected site

Mr Marsh said he was now taking advice on whether to seek his costs of £8,000 from West Norfolk - to go with the more than £20,000 he has already won back.

But it has been far from one-way traffic as far as his legal bills are concerned.

Mr Marsh won an appeal over his holiday lets (Image: Chris Bishop)

In 2023, he ran up legal costs of £35,000 before the council abandoned a crown court case over alleged planning breaches on the site but was only able to reclaim £26 in travel expenses because no evidence had been heard.

And he was also left with a £20,000 bill for his own and the council's legal costs after it served an injunction preventing him from using a field at Burnham Overy Staithe as a campsite.

Mr Marsh has since cut his losses on that one, selling the land to a local farmer.

But he still owns and operates sites at Holme, near Hunstanton, Holt and Thetford.

LENGTHY PLANNING BATTLE

Nigel Marsh has been at loggerheads with West Norfolk Council since the business opened on the South Beach Road at Heacham in 2018.

In 2021, Mr Marsh won an appeal over access to the site.

The toilet block which was the subject of one of Mr Marsh's planning appeals (Image: Chris Bishop)

In 2023, a government inspector overturned the council's refusal to allow farm buildings to be used for holiday accommodation.

That same year Mr Marsh successfully appealed when the council refused prior approval for a barn to be turned into a small hotel.

And in 2024, he appealed a ruling that a toilet block on the site could not be used by campers and was again successful.

WHAT DOES THE COUNCIL SAY?

West Norfolk council's offices in King's Lynn (Image: Ian Burt)

A council spokesman said: “We note respect the decision that has been made by the Planning Inspectorate following the applicant's appeal and will not be taking this matter any further.”

© Eastern Daily Press