Static caravan - retrospective planning permission after 4 or 10 years?

2022-08-18T14:34:24Z

Apologies if this has been discussed many times before, but I'm a bit confused by the contradictory information out there.

We've lived in a static caravan for these past 5 years. Only intended to stay in it temporarily but it turned into a more permanent situation, hence we've built a porch and an additional "room" to house a bathroom. The land itself has once had a dwelling on it, however it had fallen into disrepair (beyond saving) so not sure whether it still classes as residential land. We would like to apply for retrospective planning permission, but I'm unsure whether it's the 4 year or 10 year rule that applies to us to become immune from enforcement. Some of the information I found online suggest 4 years are enough, since we have a couple of permanent modifications attached to the caravan and it isn't movable anymore. 'The ten year rule applies to residentially occupied mobile homes that comply with the statutory definition of a caravan. The four year rule would only operate if the mobile home were considered to be an operational development i.e. if size or degree of attachment to the land gave it the characteristics of permanency.'

So my question is does our caravan class as a permanent immovable dwelling or not? Is it immune from enforcement or do we have to wait for another 5 years?

Many thanks for any help in advance!