By Alan Richardson and Mark Mackay

A GROUP of Crieff pensioners faced with eviction from their homes because they were stuck in the centre of a planning wrangle were celebrating yesterday after winning a landmark victory over the council.

A legal dispute was triggered when enforcement notices were served on residents of Mill House caravan park after it emerged they were living in their “caravans” year-round.

But after a public inquiry, a Scottish Government reporter has found they are entitled to do so, quashing the notices and ordering the council to pay costs.

Perth and Kinross Council leader Ian Miller last night extended sympathy to the park residents over their ordeal during the legal battle but said the council was “naturally disappointed with this decision.”

However, residents said they were “exhilarated” by the result for which they have fought for a year.

Alan Snowdon (83) said, “I feel absolutely wonderful. It was very much a fight worth fighting.

“This has been a sort of shadow hanging over us for the past nine months and even since the public inquiry in February we have been wondering will we have to go or will we get to stay?”

The second world war navy veteran, who spent £118,000 to buy his house and retire to his hometown last year, said he feels no bitterness towards the council for its stance but questioned the use of public money in forcing the inquiry.

He said, “I didn’t hire a lawyer but others did and the council obviously had a legal team so I dread to think what it will all cost.”

Fellow resident, Lionel Harrison (69) said he felt “exhilarated” by the victory after spending a year since moving to Crieff from Australia fighting to keep his home.

The former soldier said, “One of the reasons we moved was because of my wife’s health problems and this hasn’t been helpful at all. It’s a bit overwhelming at the moment but I’m just glad it’s all over.”

Mr Miller admitted it would be some time before the full implications of the ruling were known.

While he said it was unfortunate residents had been put through the legal process, he nonetheless added that the decision to challenge Welch Homes had been taken “for the good of the wider community around Mill House and for Perth and Kinross as a whole.

“As a planning authority, Perth and Kinross Council is obliged to take action in circumstances where we consider the law has been breached,” he said.

Mr Miller added, “I fully understand that residents at Mill House have been extremely concerned throughout this process.

“It is unfortunate that they have had to go through this and I would offer my sympathies to them.”

However he added, “Unregulated development of caravan sites would put pressure on local infrastructure such as roads, utilities and schools and would result in the loss of tourist accommodation.

“This would affect everyone living in the whole area and the reporter has said that he sympathised with the council about these concerns.

“In this case no planning application had been lodged for a change of use to allow for permanent residential use and as a planning authority we considered we had to take action.

“In the end this came down to the opinion of the reporter and he has disagreed with the council position.

“We are naturally disappointed with this decision.

“We will need to take time to full consider his ruling and consider the important implications it has for planning regulations.”

MP Gordon Banks said, “It is sad that the situation was allowed to go on so long and disappointing that the council decided to pursue an action which was aimed at victimising elderly residents.

“Perhaps the council will now seriously reconsider its approach in the future when dealing with these sort of issues.

Targeting innocent and elderly victims can never be the correct course of action.”

Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, said, “I have always argued that the residents were the innocent victims in a battle between the council and the developer.

“This decision lifts the threat of eviction and will no doubt be greeted with immense relief by those ... who faced the possibility of losing their homes as a result of this dispute.

“I remain extremely concerned, however, about the practice of marketing static caravan sites as permanent homes and the lack of legal scrutiny applied to transactions which involve substantial sums of money and the roof over one’s head.”

The dispute was sparked after residents, who paid up to £120,000 for their homes, were told by the council they had planning permission only for “holiday use” and would have to stop living there year-round.

The council admitted it feared a precedent would be set that could wipe out cara-van parks across the region and create blocks of housing with no planning conditions attached.

As well as issuing notices against private home owners, the council also sought to stop developer Welch Homes from marketing and selling the properties as residential developments.

Unwittingly, the homeowners found themselves caught between developers who had taken advantage of slack planning rules and an authority desperately trying to tighten them.

Issuing his findings, reporter Richard Hickman said, “The council’s concerns about the change to permanent residential occupation are based primarily on a wish to ensure that appropriate residential standards are met, and to a lesser extent because the progressive loss of tourist accommodation would undermine the local economy.

“I understand and sympathise with the council’s concerns.”

But he said “serious hardship and resentment” could be caused to those who would have to leave their homes, “likely to bring the planning system into disrepute.”

He said he found it preferable to allow residential occupation at the site.

He added, “The loss of a few caravan stances from tourism use is to be regretted, but I note from the evidence that there is a considerable stock of tourist accommodation in the area, and that the occupiers of the residential caravans will themselves make a significant contribution to the local economy.”

Welch’s Parks bought the site in 2005 and has since redeveloped it to accommodate 18 two-unit caravans, marketed as permanent residences with the appearance of bungalows. More people have moved into the site since the dispute began.

Company director Cresswell Welch said, “The errant actions of the council have caused Welch’s Parks to incur considerable and unnecessary costs and have caused unfair reputational damage.

“Welch’s Parks has been fully vindicated by this outcome.”

A spokesman for Crown Parks, which runs Seaton Caravan Park in Arbroath, last night said its lawyers would be studying yesterday’s decision.

In November the council’s licensing committee narrowly denied permission for 450 all-year round residential caravans at the park, by six votes to five.