“GIPSY billionaire” Alfie Best has hit back at Herefordshire Council over its refusal to acknowledge an area of land is part of his company’s caravan park.

Mr Best’s company Wyldecrest Parks Management bought Saltmarshe Castle Park near Bromyard in 2015, its use as a caravan park being confirmed by a certificate of lawfulness a year later.

“Numerous applications have followed to regularise the continued expansion of the caravan park,” according to council planning officer Tracey Meachen.

In September, Wyldecrest put in a fresh bid, accompanied by around two dozen pieces of evidence, including aerial photographs and sworn statements from former and current staff and residents, to establish that an area of land to the southeast of the site had served as part of the park for at least ten years, and so was integral to it in planning terms.

A similar bid in 2020 was refused then dismissed at appeal.

Ms Meachen refused the latest bid too, concluding the evidence did not prove conclusively a continuous relationship between the land in question and the main caravan site “for a continuous ten-year period”.

She added that the land “is now used for the stationing of caravans which may now be considered a separate breach of planning regulations”.

“A certificate of lawfulness should not be issued,” she concluded.

Mr Best said the evidence from aerial photography, along with the staff testimonies, was “very clear” and that the council “have no evidence to say any different”.

“I don’t know what more evidence they want,” he said.

“We are just trying to regularise the use,” he explained. “It’s of no use to us as a company, only to residents and the community. It has already been in use for dog walking, football and other uses for around 30 years.”

But he added: “We will appeal, and apply for costs, because when there is an injustice, Herefordshire Council needs to be called out.”

One of the largest firms of its kind in Europe, Wyldecrest owns more than 100 residential parks, housing around 16,000 residents.

Earlier this the year the Sunday Times Rich List put Mr Best’s personal fortune at £944 million.