A PUBLIC inquiry to decide the future of a former RAF camp on the edge of the New Forest will start later this month.

Martin Baily, who jointly owns the former domestic quarters of RAF Sopley, now named Merryfield Park, has appealed against 20 enforcement notices issued in November 2010 by New Forest District Council.

The council alleges the former RAF huts are being used for a variety of activities without planning permission. They say more than a dozen huts are being used for storage purposes, an office and photographic studio while other buildings have been used for band rehearsals.

The council also says one of the huts is a workshop with office and storage space and the old RAF Airwaves Club has been used as a private members’ club and hired out for social functions.

The council says the design of the buildings is not in keeping with their surroundings and does not justify their retention through reuse. The changes of use are inappropriate development in the green belt, as is storage between buildings.

Mr Baily has appealed against the decision claiming planning permission should be granted, there has been no breach of planning control, the enforcement notice was issued too late to take action, the steps required are excessive and the time given to comply is too short.

He says in a statement that the specified uses do not cause an intensification of activity or additional traffic and that the uses do not cause harm to the rural character and appearance of the area.

Mr Baily is also likely to provide evidence that the council has incorrectly identified the use of some the specified buildings and in other cases, the uses have been the same for the past 10 years, making them immune from enforcement action.

The inquiry will start at 10am on Tuesday September 20 at New Forest District Council’s offices in Appletree Court in Lyndhurst.