A four-year war over a controversial caravan park planning application is still unresolved.

Residents of Downland Park, a static home site in Newhaven, are fighting a planning application by the park’s owner for “use of land as a caravan site without restrictions or conditions”.

Residents said the owner placed an extra static home on the land without permission in 2020, which was challenged by Lewes District Council.

A planning application was then submitted for its approval and subsequently rejected, with an appeal against the decision lodged in August 2020.

The appeal is being overseen by the Planning Inspectorate.

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Residents of Downland Park fear the application could open the floodgates to more static homes and "a further decline of the site".

A daughter of a woman in her 80s who lives on the site said: “There are walls slipping, there are dangerous steps and they have been told it’s their problem to deal with.

“This application has been going on for years but the council are trying to put a stop to it.

“People are really worried about their homes.”

A public inquiry was held last month in Winter Gardens, Eastbourne, after the last attempt was postponed due to too many people turning up at the venue.

A resolution was not reached at the meeting and the outcome is still pending.

Lewes District Council declined to comment.

Park Homes, which manages the site, did not respond to requests for a comment.