CHRISTCHURCH council has been accused of 'moving the goalposts' during a complicated planning dispute over park homes.

Residents at Tall Trees Park, based at Matchams Lane, said they have been advised by the council - via their planning consultant - to withdraw applications to change the use of their homes after they were served with eviction notices at the end of last year.

The council's argument is that the homes cannot be used for residential use.

Residents claim they were mis-sold their homes by Trees Park - a trading division of South Coast Parks Ltd - and told they could live at their homes all-year round.

The site was sold by then land owner Matthew James to Royal Parks Christchurch Ltd last month (FEB).

There are currently two separate applications being considered by the council - the first is the appeal against the enforcement notices; the second is a group of applications to change the homes' use.

A representative of the Tall Trees Home Owner’s Association, said: "The council contacted our planning consultant and asked him to withdraw our application as we also have an appeal against the enforcement pending.

"When he refused on the grounds that if our application is turned down we have a 'second bite at the cherry' with the appeal, the enforcement officer said the council might need to delay our application while they take legal advice.

"As far as we are aware, nothing has changed yet."

The application to change the use of the homes is set to be discussed by civic chiefs on April 24.

"Our concern is why after all these months, they are trying to move the goalposts, when they should have taken legal advice before setting the date," the representative added.

Jane Lynch, development management manager at Christchurch and East Dorset Councils, said: “We are legally required to provide a due date for every application but this date does not take into account any delays that might arise and it would not be right for the council to make a decision before we have fully assessed all details of the application.

"In this case, it has become clear during our assessment that one submission contained errors that needed to be rectified before we could continue to process either application. This has now been done. Applications of this type require a legal view which can only be sought once all necessary information has been received and regrettably the delays arising in this is likely to result in the decision being made after the due date.

“The applications we are currently processing are essentially seeking to achieve the same outcome as a current appeal which is to be determined by the Planning Inspectorate. To avoid confusion with the timing of these matters we have suggested that these applications be withdrawn until the Planning Inspectorate have made their decision.”