Appeal started against enforcement notice on land at Upper Weston

A landowner is appealing against an enforcement notice issued by Bath & North East Somerset Council ordering him to remove caravans, waste and a barn from the site on the edge of the city.

The access to the site from Westmead Gardens, off Deanhill Lane

The appeal by Hisnain Mahmood relates to the site known as Parcel 3263 at Deanhill Lane, Upper Weston.

The land is within the Green Belt and Cotswolds National Landscape.

Mr Mahmood, who has an address in Birmingham and is connected to property and pharmacy companies, first submitted an application to the council in September 2024 for a Certificate of Lawfulness to enlarge three barns by no more than 25%.

At the time, he said he planned to keep chicken, livestock and horses in the barns.

The application was withdrawn in early November and a week later the council received a consultation request to operate a certified exempted camping site on the land. That request was withdrawn in early December.

Then in January 2025, Mr Mahmood asked the council for prior approval to put up a 22.5 metre by 22 metre barn to keep livestock, saying his 30 calves would die outside in the cold winter without it, so he needed it built “asap”.

Later that month, the council ruled that the proposal did not constitute permitted development and that full planning permission would be required.

The council issued an enforcement notice on 5th June, identifying that the landowner should cease using the site as a residential caravan site and stop importing and storing waste materials, as well as removing an agricultural building.

Mr Mahmood lodged his appeal with the Planning Inspectorate on 10th July.

According to an update going to the council’s planning committee next Wednesday, 27th August, the hearing has been scheduled to take place on 14th October at the Guildhall in Bath.