THE planning battle over people living and working beside a historic Severnside dock continues, with appeals being lodged against council enforcement action.

Four separate appeals have been submitted to the planning inspector over land beside Bullo Pill Dock near Newnham-on-Severn, including from industrial sculptor Mark Vanaria, whose giant scrap metal artwork made in a dockside workshop was displayed at the recent Glastonbury Festival.

The Forest Council served enforcement orders over “the unauthorised use of several static caravans, touring caravans, campervans, barge and boats for residential purposes”.

Last month a planning application to keep an unauthorised static caravan on the site of the Grade II-listed dock was also rejected by council planners, following the refusal of other applications, including for houses, a travelling show persons’ yard and workshop and the stationing of nine caravans.

Enforcement orders were made after councillors were told of up to 16 unauthorised homes at the dockside, as well as a metal foundry.

Last year, the council said it had been informed of a “substantial increase in people living at the site in multiple containers, lorries and vehicles, several extremely large construction vehicles moving up and down, constant drilling, sawing, hammering, etc, which is relentless and free-ranging dogs”.

Plans for up to eight houses beside the site were turned down in 2016, while a retrospective change of use of part of the dockland to a travelling show persons’ yard and workshop by Mr Vanaria was also dismissed last year.

The artist, who works as Bending Dark Shadows, displayed his giant sculpture ‘A Head on with the Future’ at the recent Glastonbury Festival, which he sculpted at the dock site.

Made from bits of a 1950s Bentley car, a Q4 military truck and a petrol tanker, it has now been installed at the British Ironwork Centre in Oswestry, with 20 per cent of the profits from its hire or sale being donated to indigenous land right campaigns in Australia and Brazil.

Turning down his show persons’ yard scheme last year, council planners ruled that it involved “undeveloped land… outside the district’s defined settlements… in a part of the open countryside that is unsustainable and all but inaccessible”.

They also said it could harm the setting of the listed historic dock and Dock Cottage, and highlighted safety fears over access on and off the A48 at “a junction with substandard visibility”.

The retrospective application for four static and five mobile caravans was also rejected in May, after Newnham Parish Council had objected that the scheme would cause “a significant negative impact upon the heritage asset of Bullo Dock”, while there was also a “significant risk of flooding” to the access track from the A48.

Last month, planners considered a retrospective application from Darren Larkham of Bullo Ltd to continue to site a two-bedroomed static caravan on the west bank of the dock for “security and seafarer welfare”.

A report on behalf of the application said the dock had operated for more than a century and supported five jobs, while “new employment and other opportunities” existed there.

But the application was turned down on the grounds that it was in an unsustainable location outside the settlement boundary, because it would harm “heritage assets” and owing to flooding and road safety access concerns.

Enforcement action is also currently being appealed by Mr Larkham over an order to remove static caravans on land near the dock at Callow Cottage, which planners were told was the site of an “unauthorised” boat yard being used for storage of machinery and old craft.

Comments on the new appeals lodged by Mr Larkham and Mr Vanaria can be made on the planning inspectorate site at https://acp.planninginspectorate.gov.uk by searching for Forest of Dean Council cases.