A 40-space extension to a caravan park at Lyons Gate, north of Dorchester, has been refused by Dorset Council.

The Lyons Gate Caravan Park and Fishery already has permission for 60 touring caravans, 13 static caravans and 30 tents.

The company which owns the site, the Hop Farm Family Park, based in Oxfordshire, wanted to extend into a clearing within the adjoining Alleymoor Wood. It claimed the move should be allowed using permitted development rights, without the need for full planning consent.

Minterne Magna Parish Council said that it has no objection to the proposal although Dorset Council officers rejected the approach deciding that two areas of the site had to be treated separately.

An officer report said that the consent for caravans on one part of the site did not apply to the rest of the area which was listed, seperately, for 'recreation, including woodland walks and children's play, car parking for staff, visitor's overflow car parking, general storage and service yard, ancillary to Lyons Gate Caravan Park and Fishery'.

A report concluded that although in the same ownership, the land which the company wanted to extend onto had to be considered separately for planning purposes.