CHICKERELL Town Council has recommended refusal of an application to keep a mobile shower and toilet block in place throughout the year at a summer-only campsite at Buckland Ripers.

Eight letters of objection, expressing a similar view, have been received by Dorset Council which will decide the proposed change to the original planning consent.

The town council, and most of the letter writers, say there is no need for the shower and toilet unit to be on site outside the months of July and August. The town council say if it remained in place it would have “a detrimental effect on the environment and visual amenities of the area.”

Said one letter writer: “The block is an eyesore and clearly visible from the road and even as far away as the Ridgway. It is much bigger than the original plan and is also white instead of the stipulated green.”

The campsite and loo block, adjacent to Buckland House, was given consent for July and August each year, with a mobile shower and toilets next to the boundary hedge on the western edge of the site. Under the original planning consent these should be removed at the end of each season.

Agents for the site owners are now asking for the shower and toilets to be allowed to stay in place throughout the year, although only used during the summer season.

Asking for a change to the conditions the agents say in a letter to Dorset Council : “Although they are moveable, they need to be connected to water and drainage pipes and it makes no sense for the pipes to be disconnected and the units and steps dismantled, removed and stored elsewhere at the end of each season when the campsite is not in use…

“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.”

A decision will be made by a Dorset Council planning officer.