A ‘STARK’ toilet and shower block at a Buckland Ripers summer-only campsite will be allowed to remain all year, subject to conditions.

The owners will have to change it from white to green, add to hedges and trees to shield it from view, and make a suitable access for people with disabilities. They will also have to draw up a biodiversity plan and actions to limit the effect on wildlife.

Dorset councillors have approved the year-round application despite being told that the site owners had failed to comply with most of the conditions about the block after the 45-space camping site had been granted permission for use from June to September in 2019.

The area planning committee heard that the terms of the original consent had included a limit on the size of the block, its colour, and a condition that it had to be removed from the site, a field adjacent to Buckland House, by the end of the season.

Said Chickerell councillor Jean Dunseith: “It was supposed to be green, of modest size and removed in September…all of these conditions have been disregarded. They are not optional extras,” she said.

Cllr John Worth, ward councillor, called for the application to be refused.

“The toilet block is more or less three times the size of that approved in the 2019 planning permission…although there is some planting you can see this from some distance away and it is fairly stark...This is like someone asking for a two bedroom house and then building a four-bedroom house,” he said.

Wyke Regis councillor Kate Wheller said she found the situation exasperating: “Increasingly wonder why we bother to have a planning committee, if people can’t be bothered to comply with conditions... it shows a lack of respect… maybe we could save a lot of money and not have a planning department?”

But she said despite this she supported the use of the site, acknowledged the owners were trying to provide good facilities for their customers, and said that if they met the new conditions should be allowed to leave the toilet and shower block on site all year.

A letter to Dorset Council from a planning agent said that it was difficult to disconnect the water and drainage pipes, dismantle the steps and decking, and remove and then store the unit elsewhere.

“Photographs submitted with the application demonstrate that the units are entirely unobtrusive and have no adverse impact upon the character/appearance of the area when viewed from any public vantage points outside the site.  Consequently, there will be no detriment to the visual amenities for the locality if they remain on site,” said the application.

Site manager Daniel Smy said his concern had been to provide the best possible facilities for people using the site and was happy to comply with the conditions if the unit could remain.

Several residents living nearby had objected to the block remaining on site, one claiming that it was clearly visible from the road, nearby rights of way and the Ridgeway.

One, Jeanine Beale, said there was no need for the block to be on the site longer than camping was allowed, and that if the council permitted it to remain it would make a mockery of the planning system.

Planning officers said although the block was in place it should be treated as a new application and that if the the building was changed from white to green it would better blend in with the surroundings and, although it would still be seen, would not be obtrusive.

Councillors voted 7-2 to allow the block to remain on site, subject to the conditions being agreed to the satisfaction of the planning officer and committee chairman.