Residents prepare for new battle over eviction

RESIDENTS facing eviction from a retirement park are preparing for a second public inquiry, after the first was quashed.

Around 130 householders on Lakeminster Park, near Beverley, have been living on a “knife edge”, in fear of being made homeless, since an inspector upheld East Riding Council’s refusal of planning permission allowing them to live there all year round.

A second public inquiry will take place in June after the inspector involved in the original inquiry was found to have “erred in law”.

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The inquiry will be held by a different Inspector at County Hall in Beverley and is expected to last two or three weeks.

Retired civil servant and Lakeminster resident Alan Coates who gave evidence last year said a group of residents would continue to object.

He said: “I am not a quitter. I don’t give up on things, I never have. As long as I am alive and reasonably healthy I will go for it. There are too many people whose lives depend on this. There is no way I am going to let the council win.

“This is a previous development site, a brownfield site, which causes no serious harm to the environment. There are other holiday parks in the East Riding where people are living all year round, having found a way of evading the planning rules.”

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East Riding Council said the Planning Inspectorate would pick up the council’s costs of the new inquiry. They have told residents that the council’s refusal of planning permission and enforcement notices remain in force.

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