Traveller concretes over wildlife haven to build his 'dream home' - then admits he didn't apply for planning permission because it was too difficult

By JOHN SIDDLE and RORY TINGLE, HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT Published: 00:27, 9 July 2026 | Updated: 00:27, 9 July 2026 A traveller concreted over a field to build a caravan park - before admitting he didn't bother asking for planning permission because it would have been too difficult. Michael Delaney, 39, converted the woodland site in Sussex into an illegal encampment for his family before describing it as his 'dream home'. The Irish traveller and his clan poured hardstanding and moved static homes onto a seven-acre field near Crawley Down last August and then ignored orders to stop. By the end of September, the field - a habitat for protected great-crested newts - was occupied by six plots housing Mr Delaney, his children, grandchildren, nephew, pregnant daughter-in-law and a newborn child. Nearby residents told the local parish council that they were 'nervous not knowing who is living in close proximity to them'. Mr Delaney admitted in a planning appeal that he did not attempt to try and secure planning permission to lawfully move onto the land - saying he knew from experience how 'painstakingly difficult' the process was. He and his family have now been told to clear off after an inspector branded the development 'blatant, contemptuous and egregious'. Michael Delaney, 39, turned rural woodland in Sussex into an unauthorised caravan park and then described his idyllic new surroundings as his 'dream home' Paul Freer, of the Planning Inspectorate, said: 'Michael Delaney not only knew that planning permission was required to station caravans for residential use but also had foreknowledge that obtaining planning permission would not be straightforward. 'Yet this did not deter him from occupying the site without the benefit of planning permission.' In his attempts to remain on the site, known as Fir Trees Place, Mr Delaney insisted that the plot offered his nomadic family 'stability' and that without it they faced having to live on the roadside. He also claimed the human rights of the children would be breached if they were to be turfed off. Appealing an enforcement notice to move off the land, Mr Delaney said: 'I know how painstakingly difficult it can be to obtain planning permission. 'My own son had to wait in uncertainty for over a year, having had his hearing adjourned on three occasions before his appeal was allowed, only to have that comfort thrown back into turmoil when the court challenge was pursued. 'That has only recently been resolved, and it is only recently that his family have found comfort and stability as a result.' He added: 'This site is a dream home for ourselves, and I think it is a good site. We have done what we felt necessary to establish it nicely, and have set out development back behind the tree line, as opposed to in front of it. The Irish traveller and his clan poured hardstanding and moved static homes onto a large field near Crawley Down last August and then ignored council orders to stop 'I have no intentions of making the site any larger than it needs to be. There are children here, and I want them to grow up with a bit of freedom.  'To have a field that is safe that they can kick a ball around in, or ride their bikes, or horses. 'As such, whilst I can appreciate the interested parties' concerns regarding potential further development, I can only say we don't want it.' Mr Delaney claimed that 'every council around us has sadly failed to meet our communities [sic] needs' and moaned that planning applications Mid Sussex District Council said there was no need for the Delaney clan to move onto the field because they had links to authorised traveller sites. Refusing Mr Delaney's appeal against an enforcement notice, the Planning Inspectorate said the development harmed the 'confined and intimate' character of the area. Mr Freer gave the travellers three months to remove their caravans and six months to rip up the hardstanding and restore the field. He said he was 'not convinced' that being forced to move would mean the family had to 'adopt a roadside existence'. A wider view of the idyllic site in Sussex Government policy requires planning inspectors to treat intentional unauthorised development as an important consideration when deciding whether to grant retrospective permission.  Mr Freer said Mr Delaney's land grab was an 'egregious example of intentional unauthorised development'. The council said it 'welcomes the Planning Inspector's decision and the timetable for compliance that has been set out'.  It is 'now assessing the implications of the decision and considering its position in relation to the next steps'.