Holiday cabins are immune to enforcement, says firm

Unauthorised holiday cabins were installed six years ago and are therefore immune to enforcement, an inquiry has been told.

Bradford Council issued an enforcement notice in May, calling for the structures at Jacobs Wood Farm, a sensitive green belt site in Silsden, to be removed and for works to stop.

The company behind the lets - AZARA GIDA SAN.VE TIC.LTD.ŞTI - appealed against the notice, leading to a four-day inquiry in front of planning inspector Paul Hocking.

The firm said it was an "innocent party" and had bought the land after the work had already been done.

It said the cabins were installed in 2020, which is outside the four-year enforcement window if the work was substantially complete.

Evidence was submitted by the company, which included invoices from O'Neill Construction dating back to 2020 showing "holiday pods" were delivered to part of the site.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council was first made aware of the development at the woodland in 2025 and officers believed work was still ongoing as the buildings were not habitable.

Enforcement officer Daniel Speedy said he could see construction materials and tools present during his visit, and argued the work seemed to have been carried out recently.

The inspector was told that a sales brochure for the site compiled by Carter Jonas in 2024 made no mention of the development, despite the company claiming the buildings had already been on site for several years.

The firm's representative told the inquiry that the buildings were being refurbished by the new owners in 2025, as they had fallen into disrepair in the years since their installation in 2020.

He dismissed the suggestion by Speedy that the units seen in 2025 were different to the units the invoice claimed were delivered to the site in 2020.

Referring to the Carter Jonas leaflet advertising the site for sale, the company argued it would be unlikely that an estate agent would openly advertise buildings that had been installed without planning permission.

Once the inquiry has concluded, Hocking will consider the evidence and make a decision on the appeal in the coming weeks.

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