'Gypsy Billionaire' Alfie Best's "great victory" over Penwortham caravan site is disputed by South Ribble Borough Council

This week the Post revealed how a Planning Inspector had ordered an embankment at Penwortham Residential Park off Stricklands Lane to be reinstated after upholding South Ribble Borough Council’s stance that it had been done without permission, and had caused harm to a protected woodland area.

For more on the ruling, click here.

The site is owned by Wyldecrest Parks, chaired by self-styled ‘Gypsy Billionaire’ Alfie Best, who comes from a Romani background and whose businesses are valued at more than £700m.

But far from being upset by the decision, Mr Best claimed it as “a great victory”, saying that the Inspector’s decision that the embankment fell into the same planning unit as the rest of the park meant that the engineering work was now allowed under permitted development.

He called it a “a poke in the eye for the council with a blunt stick”, vowing to re-lay anything he is ordered to rip up.​

He said: “The engineering works were not lawful when they were done, because we didn't have planning permission, but we do now.”

More here on Mr Best’s reaction to the decision

South Ribble Borough Council’s stance

The council sees things differently.

Councillor James Flannery said: “The council doesn’t view this as a victory for one party over another but working to find the fairest outcome in line with planning processes.”

They say Wyldecrest’s site licence cannot supersede the enforcement notice, which requires the concrete bases to be removed and the embankments restored.

They also sat that the Inspector’s decision can only be appealed to the High Court and only if the appellant has grounds to do so.

The council are not aware of any such appeal.