A public inquiry into a traveller camp on the outskirts of Warwick has been cancelled, after an appeal against the council's enforcement notice was closed down.

Warwick District Council served an enforcement notice to stop work on the Henley Road site in May, after work to build a new campsite started over the bank holiday weekend.

This was followed up by a longer term stop notice to prevent any more construction.

The landowners then decided to appeal the decision to the planning inspectorate, with the case due to go before a public inquiry in December.

But with a part-retrospective planning application for a new campsite at the Henley Road plot yet to be decided, the inquiry has now been cancelled.

"Recent changes to planning legislation mean that a Ground A planning enforcement appeal cannot be accepted if there is also an ongoing planning application for the same development under consideration which is the case here," a council report said. 

"The council's legal representatives raised this matter with the planning inspectorate who have subsequently closed down the Ground A appeal which will no longer proceed. 

"The previously anticipated public inquiry has therefore been cancelled. 

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"The planning inspectorate have however indicated that the appeal will continue as a Ground G appeal where the main issue will be whether the compliance period required by the enforcement notice is sufficient. 

"Officers are currently awaiting further guidance from the planning inspectorate as to the deadline for further public consultation, following which all interested parties in the appeal will be notified of the changes."

If approved, the planning application by Philip Brown Associates Limited would see the field turned into a base for 12 families.

The application says the residents - who now own the site - do not currently have a lawful place to park their caravans, and the new site would allow them a permanent home.

"These families do not currently have lawful pitches and have come together to acquire the application site to provide themselves with a settled base," the plans state.

"The provision of a settled base would allow these families to access health and education services, and avoid the necessity for unauthorised camping."

The application for the traveller site near the M40 has already been met with a number of objections, including one from Budbrooke Parish Council.

"No exceptional circumstances have been provided that would outweigh the harm this development would cause to the openness of the countryside, the change of use and its impact on the green belt," the objection said.

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Councillors also said the access to the site - onto a 50mph road - was not appropriate, particularly for caravans accessing the development.

See the full application here.