A car park built without planning permission on green belt land in Burnham has been allowed to remain after a Government inspector overturned a council order to remove it.

Burnham Beeches Golf Club, on Green Lane, was told by Buckinghamshire Council to tear up a 15-space overflow car park that had been created close to the clubhouse.

The council had rejected a retrospective planning application and later issued an enforcement notice demanding the tarmac and kerbstones be dug up and the land restored to grass.

Council officers argued the new car park had damaged the area’s “rural character”, removing what they described as an “established enclave of trees and shrubs” that contributed to the green belt landscape.

But following an appeal, Government planning inspector G. Sibley has now ruled that the car park can stay – subject to several conditions.

In their report, the inspector acknowledged the development had some impact on “the visual and spatial openness” of the green belt, but decided it did not amount to “inappropriate development”.

They wrote: “Given the location and modestly sized but low-level scale of the development it has a limited effect upon the spatial aspect of the openness of the Green Belt.

“Overall, the development affects both the visual and spatial openness of the Green Belt. However, this could be said for many new ‘appropriate’ facilities for outdoor sport in the Green Belt.

“The development does introduce new built form into the Green Belt. However, given that the development retains the centralised location of built form associated with the golf club and is modest in scale it ensures the development does not result in a level of encroachment that would conflict with the purpose of the Green Belt to safeguard the countryside from encroachment.”

Northeast Burnham Residents Association described the club’s car park plans as an ‘egregious urbanisation of the Green Belt’.

A spokesperson for the association said: “In spite of the refusals, it decided to remove over 250 square metres of native, high quality, mature woodland and adjacent grassland to replace it with a concrete and tarmac car park.”

The inspector’s decision overturns the council’s refusal but sets out four conditions, including a requirement for a landscaping and ecology management plan to be submitted within three months.

Also warning that if the golf club fails to meet any of the conditions – including submitting the required landscaping, ecology and drainage plans – the car park must be dismantled and all hard surfaces removed within six months.