Waterways Caravan Park in Reculver wants residents to stay through February. The council refused the same request in 2017, and comments close on 4 December.

The owner of Waterways Caravan Park in Reculver has asked Canterbury City Council to let residents live there all year round. At the moment they must move out every February.

The application, CA/26/01807, was validated on Monday 2 November. It asks the council to remove the occupancy condition from a 1994 planning permission. That condition says no caravan on the site may be occupied between 31 January and 1 March in any year.

The applicant is AR (Reculver) Ltd. Its planning statement, written by Laister Planning, says the park is part of “Reculver Village”, a group of caravan parks owned by the national park home operator Regency Living.

Why residents leave in February

The site was built for holidays. The statement sets out how the rules have loosened since:

  • 1979: an extension of 49 caravan sites was approved, with no use allowed between 31 October and 31 March
  • 1984: a static caravan site for 61 holiday caravans was approved, closed from 31 October to 1 March
  • 1994: both closures were cut to February only, because the park “was only intended for recreational use”
  • 2017: a lawful development certificate confirmed the caravans can be used as permanent homes from 1 March to 31 January

That leaves the four weeks of February. Residents may keep their caravans on site during that month but may not live in them, the statement says.

This has been tried before

The statement lists the earlier attempts to end the February rule:

  • 2017: the council refused the same application. It said permanent homes outside Herne Bay would be unsustainable and harmful, and no flood risk assessment had been submitted. A planning inspector dismissed the appeal in October 2017.
  • 2019: the council refused a certificate for “proposed use of land for siting of caravans”. An inspector dismissed that appeal in March 2022, saying the application had not asked for year-round occupation.
  • 2020: the council refused a certificate for year-round use, saying there was not enough evidence that the rule had been broken continuously for ten years.

What the applicant argues now

The statement makes four main points:

  • Flood risk does not change in February. The site is in Flood Zone 3, with about a third of it behind flood defences. Using rainfall figures for Faversham and Manston, the statement says February is only the seventh or tenth wettest month, while residents already live there through the wetter autumn and winter. The homes stand on bases raised 0.6m above the ground, and a flood warning and evacuation plan is submitted with the application.
  • The district is short of housing land. It cites the council’s May 2025 action plan, which put the district’s housing land supply at 4.16 years against the five years required.
  • Nothing physical changes. No new caravans or buildings are proposed.
  • The residents would stay the same. The park would remain for semi-retired and retired people, with no children and no more than two people regularly living in each home, controlled by agreements under the Mobile Homes Act 1983. The statement says this matches the other parks in Reculver Village.

The statement does not give the number of homes on the park.

What happens next

The council’s planning register lists the consultation as expiring on Friday 4 December. A decision is due by Monday 1 February 2027, the day before the next February closure would begin.

What it means for you

  • If you live at Waterways, this would let you stay in your home through February. Nothing changes until the council decides.
  • If you live in Reculver or Herne Bay, you can comment on application CA/26/01807 on the council’s planning site until 4 December. Comments count when they deal with planning matters, such as flood risk, location and access to services.

Our Canterbury planning applications page explains how to find and comment on applications.