Classic cars at centre of Fareham council planning battle on land near A27 earmarked for 34 new homes
A council has claimed that land near a busy road is being used to repair and store classic cars without planning permission.
Fareham Borough Council claims Mathew James is using the land, west of 237 Segensworth Road near the A27, to repair the cars in a barn and shipping containers.
The authority also says that the landowner, of Bartley Balmoral Limited, is breaching planning rules by storing shipping containers, allowing residential use of a mobile home, and storing portable buildings, caravans, motorhomes and vehicles.
Mr James’s barrister, Richard Harwood KC, said that all the items are his personal belongings, repairs are to his own cars, and the mobile home is used for site security.
He denied any planning breaches at the one-day planning inquiry on Tuesday and sought to have a Fareham council enforcement notice quashed or planning permission granted.
Fareham council wanted the land cleared so around 34 homes allocated in the local plan could be built.
Council barrister Emma Dring said there has been a “material change of use” from the original horse-keeping permission which the site had.
She said there is no agricultural use permission and storage rights were removed in 2008.
While horse use hasn’t been formally abandoned, there are no horses on site, Ms Dring said.
Planning consultant for the council Steve Jupp said: “On a site visit in 2024, paddock fences had been renewed.
“On a 2025 visit, the paddocks were overgrown and showed no evidence of use.
“There was no indication that equestrian use had been abandoned.”
Mrs Dring added: “The mobile home and shipping containers are fitted out for residential occupation. Residential use is not normally associated with storage.”
Mr Jupp said: “There is no doubt they are being used residentially, even if intermittently. It does not have to be continuous – its purpose is residential.”
But Mr Harwood said the accommodation is akin to temporary farmworkers’ housing.
Mrs Dring said any existing planning permission applies only to the yard, not the whole site, and that storage of items in containers cannot be claimed as part of horse-related storage and must be removed.
The dispute over car storage in the barn centres on the definition of “equipment”. The council does not consider vehicles to be “equipment”.
Mr Jupp said the cars he saw on two site visits were different each time.
Planning permissions over the past decade include a 2006 consent for horse-keeping, ancillary storage, including a hay barn, Christmas tree sales, and temporary use as a gypsy pitch.
The appeal, lodged on May 28, focuses on whether planning permission exists, the principle of development, and any harm to the site’s character and appearance.
The council wants the land cleared within two months to enable construction of around 34 homes under the Fareham Local Plan.
No date has been set for the inspector’s decision.
Documents for the appeal reference APP/A1720/C/25/3368517 are available here.
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