A planning inspector highlighted the profiteering behaviour of a developer as he threw out an appeal against a council-issued enforcement notice for land at Upper Weston.
The land at Deanhill Lane
Inspector Nick Fagan’s report followed a hearing at the Guildhall last week and upholds the order forcing Hisnain Mahmood to stop using agricultural land at Deanhill Lane, behind Westmead Gardens, to site caravans and store waste, and to remove a recently erected barn used to keep cows.
Three caravans had been brought onto the site in September 2024 and Mr Mahmood, who has an address is Birmingham and is connected to property and pharmacy companies, had initially submitted an application to Bath & North East Somerset Council that month for a Certificate of Lawfulness to enlarge three barns to keep chicken, livestock and horses.
The application was withdrawn last November, and a week later the council received a consultation request to operate a certified exempted camping site, but that too was withdrawn.
In January 2025 Mr Mahmood asked for prior approval to put up a barn to keep livestock, saying his 30 calves would die in the cold without it.
Later that month the council ruled that the proposal did not constitute permitted development and said that an application seeking full planning permission would be required.
The inspector upheld the decision made by the planning committee
In June the council issued an enforcement notice, telling Mr Mahmood to cease using the site as a residential caravan site, to stop importing and storing waste materials, and to remove the new agricultural building.
Mr Mahmood appealed in July and the hearing took place on Tuesday 14th October.
Mr Fagan visited the site the day before the hearing and in his report, published on Friday 17th October, says he was able to see the sheds, structures and waste material on the site, including the recently erected calf shelter on the back field behind the sheds and a single caravan in the adjoining field to the west.
The appeal hearing was told that 30 calves had been brought onto the land on 16th March; 11 of them died and the remaining 19 were removed and sold at Frome Market on 24th September.
Mr Mahmood said that he was arranging for more calves to be brought onto the land and that the caravan was needed to support the agricultural operation.
But the inspector says in his report: “That seems very unlikely, given that there have only been 30 calves on the site. In any case, the appellant confirmed (to the surprise of the council who thought he lived in Birmingham) that he lives a short distance away off Lansdown Road.
“That means that he can care for any calves on site from home, without anyone needing to live on the site in a caravan. Irrespective of this, the caravan is being (or was at when the notice was issued) occupied residentially, which requires planning permission in any case.”
The report highlights that Mr Mahmood, in responding to questions from Mr Fagan about his business activities generally and plans for the site in particular, replied that he runs a number of businesses and owns several plots of land, including in London, that he plans to develop.
“He said that he intended to build nine houses on that part of the site closest to the houses in Westmead Gardens because this land is outside the AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) and in ‘grey land” (sic) and use the rest of it to develop his agricultural business.
“It is clear to me, from the council’s evidence and all Mr Mahmood said at the hearing that he purchased this land in July 2024 simply to turn a profit and maximise its development value in whatever way he can, with or without the necessary planning permissions.”
Mr Fagan also says that Mr Mahmood expressed the view at the hearing that he was “outnumbered” by the two council officers and the 10 residents of Westmead Gardens who attended but had been assured that the purpose of the hearing was to hear from everyone, not least himself.
The report notes that Mr Mahmood had stated he is “here for good” and that the “busybody neighbours” and the council, which is “asleep – I want to wake it up” when faced with a current housing crisis, is not going to stop him doing what he wants on his land.
Mr Fagan’s report adds: “Fortunately, planning controls and the enforcement powers in the [Planning] Act exist to stop exactly the sort of behaviour that has occurred here.”
The council-issued enforcement notice gave Mr Mahmood one month to cease the residential caravan site and the importation and storage of waste, and to remove it all, and six months to remove the barn.
