A businessman embroiled in a planning battle fears he will be made homeless by a council.

John Patrick has owned and lived on Bakers Nursery, Bakers Lane, Little Totham, since 2006 in an updated mobile home growing various different plants and flowers.

On three occasions Maldon District Council issued enforcement notices claiming the residence is unlawful which the 50-year-old appealed.

A planning inspector allowed him to remain until July so he could submit a planning application for an “agricultural workers dwelling”.

Last month the council threw out the plans saying it would be in an “unsustainable location”.

It added Mr Patrick had not provided “adequate” evidence to show he was unable to live elsewhere or that his business was financially viable.

Mr Patrick claims just a day after issuing the refusal the council handed him a breach of conditions notice.

He said: “It gave me eight weeks to remove the home but that is impossible – it is not a mobile home.

“The only way to remove it is to demolish it. I can’t demolish my home – I have got nowhere to live.

“I can’t afford to buy another property as everything I own and the house is tied up here. It is a really desperate situation.”

Mr Patrick said he believed he had done everything the planning inspector had recommended, but still he was denied planning permission.

He said he was a “nervous wreck” while he waited to see what would happen to his home.

In a report Maldon District Council said it had found 60 properties for sale in the area with an asking price of up to £300,000.

But Mr Patrick added: “If I have to demolish my home it will make me homeless – we are in the middle of a homelessness crisis.

“I’ve got three sons and they can’t get a house because there is no affordable housing in Maldon.”

Mr Patrick said he had tried to sell the business but it was impossible which accommodation on site.

A spokesman for the council said: “Although it related to a materially different development, enforcement proceedings were held in abeyance until the application for outline planning permission had been determined. Having determined the application it was appropriate for enforcement proceedings to continue.

“A breach of condition notice was duly served on October 12 which requires the residential use of the land to cease, the removal of the caravan from the land and the restoration of the land to its former condition.

“The temporary permission only allowed the stationing of a caravan at the land and therefore, as a movable structure, it is suggested that the steps required to be taken are not unreasonable.

“It is considered that it is not appropriate for the council to provide public comment on the accommodation that is available to an individual. However, the council’s housing department is available to assist people that are homeless.”