Bus dwellers must move

At the end of last year Wealden Council agreed enforcement action should be taken to stop residential use and last week a retrospective planning application for permission to stay was turned down.

Mr Bruce Scott, 36, who lives in a bus at Quicken Wood with his partner, while their friends and two-year-old daughter live in another, told the Express in December that they wanted to create a sustainable lifestyle and restore the neglected woodland on the land they had bought.

But when members of the Wealden development control, north, sub-committee met last week a report said that 17 letters of objection had been received from neighbours.

In addition Framfield Parish Council strongly objected because the site was in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the highway authority recommended refusal because of concern about access on to the B2192 road and a rural estates consultant said on-site accommodation was not justified.

One letter was received supporting the applicants: 'Having been on the land for some weeks, the occupants have made significant attempts to keep the area in keeping with its natural surroundings. No complaints in relation to noise levels. They have camouflaged the buses to blend in with the trees and hedgerows to which they are juxtaposed,' said the report.

Sub-committee members were advised the proposal was considered to be 'unacceptable in terms of policy, visual impact and amenity and highway safety' and turned it down.

After the meeting Mr Scott said he and his colleagues had not received notice of enforcement action. They had no intention of moving from the site and would wait for notice of the refusal of planning permission and then appeal against the decision.

'I talked at the meeting about the work we wanted to do on the wood and about our lifestyle, but I don't think anybody was really listening,' said Mr Scott.

He claimed their efforts meant Quicken Wood was already supporting more diversity in flora and fauna.