Spotlight on use of equestrian site near Bath as appeal is lodged

An appeal has been lodged with the Secretary of State over the use of land and buildings at Timsbury.

The Guildhall in Bath

In March, Bath & North East Somerset Council refused to grant a certificate of lawfulness for the site in Bloomfield Road, saying the evidence was insufficient to prove it had been in sole equestrian use for more than 10 years and would therefore be immune from planning enforcement action.

The council had received three objections to the application, raising concerns about the access being unsafe, the condition of the site with more than 16 dilapidated buildings, dumped waste, fires, smoke hazards, and inappropriate fencing, that the site floods, animal welfare issues.

The planning assessment report highlighted that the case officer had found three planning enforcement cases – dating from 2014, 2015 and 2020 – with the latter being most relevant: “The complaint detailed there were caravans (where people stayed overnight), motorbikes being ridden around the land and general items being stored on the land.

“This has been put to the applicant, and no evidence has been provided to show that land was not used for this purpose.”

In addition, in December 2025, the case officer contacted the applicant, Kelvyn Payne, about the “extensive” number of outbuildings/sheds located along the western boundary.

The applicant said these hadn’t been mentioned in the application as they were going to be removed, but no further evidence of their use was provided.

The assessment also noted that the tenant of the site had been importing electrical cabling, burning the insulation off and then collecting the copper to be sold as scrap. Evidence of these fires and the resultant waste was seen by the case officer in January 2024 and January 2025, with further evidence provided by the Google Street View imagery of the site from 2024, where a lit fire can be clearly seen.

The report added: “This information was put to the applicant who stated that these activities were not authorised by him (as the landlord) and were only temporary.”

Planning rules state that the deposit of refuse or waste materials on land constitutes a material change in its use. The report concluded: “The evidence before the local planning authority is insufficient to demonstrate that, on the balance of probability, the application site has been in solely equestrian use for over 10 years prior to the application date. For this reason, a certificate of lawfulness for the existing use is refused.”

The appeal was lodged last month and will be decided by a planning inspector.

The appellant maintains: “The appeal site is used for equestrian purposes, including the grazing of horses and the use of purpose-built stable buildings for the sheltering and care of horses. This use has been continuous for a period in excess of 10 years.

“While the council suggests a ‘mixed use’ occurred due to unauthorised third-party actions, the primary and dominant character of the land has remained exclusively equestrian throughout the relevant period.”

He is seeking an award of costs on the ground that the council acted “unreasonably” in its grounds for refusal.

The council has, however, lodged a rebuttal of the request for costs, calling it “a thinly vailed attack on the merits of the case and not solely reasoning as to why the appellant considers the local planning authority to have acted unreasonably”.