Controversial plans to turn a patch of land by the north Norfolk coast into a storage site for caravans and boats should be ruled on next week. 

And North Norfolk District Council’s development committee has been advised to refuse permission for the project off Langham Road in Morston.

Jonathan Cheetham asked for the go-ahead in August last year to store up to 107 caravans or boats - mostly in shipping containers - at the site, which is in the North Norfolk Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB).

The proposal followed a similar bid to place 29 containers on the same land submitted to NNDC in 2020. 

But this application was withdrawn after a number of objections were made and Mr Cheetham was advised the plan did not meet a number of planning policies.

And in a report prepared ahead of a December 22 meeting, council officers have recommended to councillors that they should also refuse the revised bid. 

Their report says the project would be a “major development” for the area, and any economic benefit would be “relatively modest in scale”.

It says: “The proposals would necessitate the removal of a significant amount of scrub and woodland which is known to support breeding populations for a range of protected species, including mammals and birds of conservation concern.”

The site is now mostly woodland and scrub, and there are some areas of old tarmac hardstanding there from its use by the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. 

Smaller boats with outboard motors would be stored in the containers, while larger boats would be kept on the hardstanding.

The application says trees would be left in place. It says: “Retaining and enhancing the vegetation at the site will limit the impact of the development on the wider AONB." 

There have been dozens of objections lodged through NNDC’s planning portal, including from Morston Parish Council.

The parish council said it was opposed to the scheme because of: “The protected status of the area, the impact on traffic on any available route in and out, through Langham, Stiffkey, or Cley, plus the negative impact on wildlife remain unchanged.”