THE owner of a popular tourism business has won a planning battle against the Lake District National Park Authority.

Vernon Chapman, of Little Ees Wyke, Near Sawrey, was issued with an enforcement notice by the authority in September last year.

It said the creation of two self-catering holiday lets at the property near Esthwaite Water had breached planning regulations.

But Mr Chapman, aged 62, appealed on the grounds the works had been done many years previously and were outside the timescale for enforcement action.

An inspector from the Planning Inspectorate found in his favour and quashed the enforcement notice.

Mr Chapman said he and his wife Penelope bought the “stunning but run-down” house in 2008 for £550,000.

Close to Esthwaite water, with views of landmark fells, it was part of a semi-retirement plan to run it as a B&B, he said.

The former traffic policeman said he was seriously injured on duty and suffered from fibromyalgia – a long-term condition causing pain all over the body.

He was advised to run a “less labour intensive” business than a B&B, so the couple decided to make it a self-catering enterprise.

They invested hundreds of thousands of pounds in creating two holiday lets, believing they had permission to do so, and made it a success.

Three years ago he was diagnosed with a cancerous tumour in the throat. A council tax re-evaluation had also caused the rates to soar, he said.

“It just felt like they were ganging up on us,” said Mr Chapman.

“One side seemed like they were trying to cripple us with rates and the other side wanted to close us down.

“We felt awful, it felt like we had committed a crime. This area relies on tourism – all we wanted to do was bring people here.”

The park authority needed to prove the works had been done in the four years prior to the enforcement notice being issued in September, 2017.

But planning inspector John Braithwaite found the works started in November 2008 and finished in December 2009.

His appeal decision said: “Evidence submitted by Mr Chapman indicates that guests visited before the critical date of September 21, 2013.”

Commenting on the inspector’s decision, Andrew Smith, of the LDNPA, said Little Ees Wyke had been “split” from one house into three.

Mr Smith, assistant head of development management, said: “This needed planning permission which had not been applied for. The inspector decided that, although new dwellings had been created without permission, because the owner was able to demonstrate that this had taken place more than four years before our action, the new dwellings were now immune from enforcement action.”

But Mr Smith advised people to check before making changes to any property within the national park.

“We would urge people to get in touch as early as possible so that they can discuss their options. ”

Mr Chapman, originally from Cornwall, said the couple now intended to leave the area and had put the property on the market for £1.1 million.