Travellers
INJUNCTION HALTS WORK AMID ‘DISASTER’ FEARS
A Gwent council has won a High Court injunction against travellers digging up tons of earth amid concerns about potential landslips. More than 600 people living in NANTYGLO signed a petition against the excavation work on land bought by a traveller group but with no planning permission sought for any work. Despite this, what was a hill has been dug out. Blaenau Gwent council served a stop notice on the work and secured an interim High Court injunction to stop further digging. The order remained in place until a court hearing scheduled for June. Residents are worried that the excavation could have devastating consequences. The town is less than 10 miles away from where the Aberfan disaster occurred in 1966, when spoil heaps collapsed, killing 144 people, including 116 children. The petition was set up by Yvonne Bell and she said: “Some of the more elderly residents around here are terrified of what’s happening.” Land registry documents show a covenant on the land, stating it can only be used for grazing. A spokesman for the travellers said the work was being done because the council was not providing them with the ‘right needs’ and that they were only doing up their own property.
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2024
COUNCILS GET INJUNCTION HELP
The Supreme Court has ruled that courts can grant injunctions to local authorities to prevent unidentified TRAVELLERS from stopping on their land. A ruling from five judges of the Supreme Court affirmed the Court of Appeal’s decision to grant courts the power to hand out so-called ‘newcomer’ injunctions. The justices, whose ruling was supported by Lords Hodge and Lloyd-Jones, said the injunctions could be granted if there was a ‘compelling need’ for them and that the rights of those affected were protected. Councils can currently issue Section 77 notices, which gives them the power to direct individuals to remove people’s vehicles and belongings and to leave the land, without the consent of the occupier of the land. Failure to comply with the order or returning within three months is a criminal offence with a penalty of a fine of up to £1,000.
Clerks & Councils Direct, March 2024
LAWS TIGHTENED ON ILLEGAL CAMPS
THE Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, introduced on 28 June, has given police forces in England and Wales new powers to act against unauthorised encampments, where Travellers set up camp illegally on other people’s land or in local communities.
Police will now be able to ban trespassers from returning to a patch of land for a year rather than just three months. The definition of harm is also being broadened, with officers able to intervene when unauthorised encampments cause environmental damage or distress to the community and not just to a landowner. For the first time, unauthorised encampments on highways will be covered, as well as on public and private land.
Under new statutory guidance from the Home Office, the harms potentially caused by unauthorised encampments can include excessive littering, noise or smell, including from bonfire smoke; local residents being verbally abused or intimidated; communities being unable to access sports fields, parks or car parks; and damage to property or land, including farmland.
A new criminal offence means that if people do not leave when asked to by the police or by a landowner, they may be liable to a prison sentence of up to three months or a fi ne of up to £2,500, or both, and/ or seizure of their vehicle.
According to the Home Office, the number of authorised traveller pitches increased by 41 per cent between January 2010 and January 2020, and the government has launched a £10 million capital grant fund for 2022/23 to support local authorities in England to provide accommodation for Travellers.
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2022
COMMITTEE WARNING ON TRAVELLERS’ RIGHTS
THE government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill risks having a disproportionate impact on the rights of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, a parliamentary inquiry warned in early July, before the parliamentary summer recess.
Among many other proposed changes to the justice system, the legislation will give police more powers to tackle unauthorised encampments. However, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) made a number of recommendations for amendments.
Its chair, Harriet Harman MP, said: “This Bill takes a major step in making it a criminal offence for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities to be on private land without consent. The JCHR has made a number of proposals to clarify and limit these new offences to ensure that the human rights of these communities are respected at the same time as landowners have their property rights protected.”
The committee argued that the government “should not use criminal law to address what is essentially a planning issue”. It added: “[Such] communities often have little option available to them other than unauthorised encampments, because local authorities are failing to build a sufficient number of authorised sites.”
It also argued that, if unauthorised encampments are criminalised, the government should “reintroduce a statutory duty on local authorities to make adequate site provision for traveller communities. This would likely have a much greater effect on reducing the number of unauthorised encampments than the imposition of a new criminal offence.”
It warned that the Bill in its current form is likely to be in breach of the right to respect for private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “The vast majority of Travellers are law-abiding [but] unauthorised encampments reflect badly on the law-abiding Traveller community. It’s therefore right we are giving the police the powers they need to address this issue, and the government will continue its work to provide more authorised sites for Travellers to reside on. We expect police to treat all communities with respect and enforcement decisions will absolutely not be made on the basis of ethnicity or race.”
The Bill is currently awaiting its second reading in the House of Lords.
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2021
A controversial application for a traveller site near the village of MIDDLETON was turned down in June after North Northamptonshire Council received 354 objections. The Area Planning Committee recommended refusal, arguing that the development would have a significant adverse impact on the landscape and character of the area. A summary of material planning reasons for objection included concerns about highway safety including increased traffic and dangerous access, the number of existing traveller sites, harm to visual amenity and the rural character of the area and environmental damage, including impact on the River Welland. Letters of objection included one from local MP Tom Pursglove, and Middleton and East Carlton parish councils also opposed the application.
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2021
EXPANSION OPPOSED
PULBOROUGH Parish Council in West Sussex has backed residents objecting to plans to expand a gypsy and traveller site. This was welcomed by a residents’ action group, Codmore Against Rural Decline (CARD), which has been campaigning against plans for the site in Codmore Hill.
Phil Hale, chair of CARD, said: “We’re very encouraged by the parish council’s clear support. The original permissions granted for this site ignored the views of the local community. Now we face a situation with far greater consequences and urge Horsham District Council to take note.”
The district council granted conditional permission in September 2019 for two pitches, according to CARD, but a spokesman said: “Plans submitted last month propose a massive intensification, totalling six mobile home pitches, six caravan pitches and space for up to 12 vehicles.”
A spokesman for the parish council said that the plans would “overwhelm the character” of the area. Consultations were set to end in April, with the district council making a decision on 25 May.
Clerks & Councils Direct, May 2020
NATIONAL STRATEGY TO TACKLE GYPSY, ROMA AND TRAVELLER INEQUALITIES
The Communities Minister Lord Bourne has launched a national strategy to tackle entrenched inequality and improve the lives of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is to lead the strategy, working with several government departments and the Cabinet Office Race Disparity Unit to improve outcomes in areas including health, education and employment.
The announcement comes as communities across the country celebrate the start of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month and will build on the government’s ongoing work to support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
To address the serious disparities highlighted by the Race Disparity Audit, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has provided £200,000 in funding between six projects aiming to improve outcomes for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the areas of educational attainment, health and social integration.
The department has also funded 22 projects which support Roma communities across England through the Controlling Migration Fund.
In addition, the department has provided funding to two projects to improve the reporting of hate crime by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.
(Published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government: 6 June 2019)
Local Councils Update July 2019
TRAVELLER PLAN TURNED DOWN
PLANS to make a temporary gypsy and traveller site permanent have been refused by the planning committee of NEWARK AND SHERWOOD District Council in Nottinghamshire. Six residents had applied for 1.3 hectares, made up of ten pitches, to become a permanent site, and planning officers had recommended a three-year temporary extension. However, both options were rejected after members were told that the site was in a flood zone and 90 per cent of it had a high risk of flooding. The application was made because existing temporary consent is due to expire, which means that the site would have to be vacated and the land returned to its original state. The committee also had to consider the fact that there were insufficient pitches in the area to meet the needs of the gypsy and traveller population. However, the Environment Agency and Newark Town Council were among those objecting, primarily on the grounds of flooding.
Clerks & Councils Direct, March 2018
DRASTIC ACTION AT TRAVELLER SITE
A COUNCILLOR who lost patience waiting for an authority to take action against travellers illegally camping in a car park took the law into his own hands by hiring a digger and placing two large concrete blocks across the entrance. Lee Anderson, a member of ASHFIELD District Council, built the barrier at Strawberry Bank in Huthwaite after waiting four weeks for Nottinghamshire County Council, which owns the land, to take action. He refused to move it until the council put a permanent barrier in place, a move that he said was fully supported by residents. He claimed that the travellers had burned copper wire on the site and created a mess that cost the council £500 to clear up. The county council said that it appreciated residents’ frustration, but it did not condone the makeshift barrier, which was blocking a public highway. It has launched a consultation on erecting a more permanent barrier, but this will require a formal Traffic Regulation Order.
Clerks & Councils Direct, March 2018
PLANNING officers have recommended that Powys County Council should approve plans for a controversial Gypsy and traveller site, even though issues raised by MACHYNLLETH Town Council concerning replacement common land and highway access have not been addressed. The county council’s planning committee met in April to discuss the application for the expanded site near the town’s cemetery. The town council had objected strongly to the proposal. A planning report, however, said that conditions aimed at preventing flooding and ensuring wildlife protection were adequate to allow the development to proceed.
Clerks & Councils Direct, May 2017
 | SWIFT EVICTION FOR ILLEGAL CAMP SEAFORD Town Council recently dealt swiftly with an incursion of travellers illegally camped on the seafront of the East Sussex town. Around 18 families parked their vans on the seafront on a Friday evening. Council staff voluntarily came in to work that evening and throughout the weekend to gather evidence to secure a swift eviction. Councillors helped collate evidence and advise residents what to do. Evidence is required by law to serve notice to move travellers on if there are issues of community safety. The council received support from Sussex Police, and a visit to the site on Monday morning, supported by a liaison officer from East Sussex County Council, established that it could enforce immediate eviction. The travellers left the site within two hours, after clearing up some of the rubbish that had accumulated. Clerk James Corrigan said: “We liaised with the police, town councillors and local residents to ensure that all proper procedures were followed. This resulted in a swift removal from the site. Our thanks go to all those residents and councillors who reported any incidents via the police 101 number.” Clerks & Councils Direct January 2017 |
VILLAGERS IN STAND-OFF WITH TRAVELLER GROUP
COUNCILLORS and villagers from WEELEY in Essex rushed out of a monthly parish council meeting on 21 July to prevent travellers from setting up camp on their playing fi eld. In a stand-off lasting nearly an hour, locals formed a human barricade, lying down in front of cars and caravans.
The drama began when county councillor Andy Erskine raised the alarm. He said: “There were members of the parish council laid on the ground in front of the vehicles. Most of them are retired ladies. I was really worried about their safety.
District councillor Mike Brown laid in front of a car for 20 minutes. He said: “I thought, they will have to damage me to get in.” Eventually the police arrived and persuadedthe travellers to leave. A farmer then barricaded the gate with heavy machinery.
An illegal camp was set up on the field two years ago, leaving the council with a major cleanup. Cllr Brown said: “It is one of the reasons we feel so strongly about it. Over the years we have planted probably 40 trees there and half were damaged. The Scout hut couldn’t operate because of human faeces.”
The council also spent £2,000 on a special gate to keep the travellers out. Cllr Anita Bailey said: “It cost us a lot of money the last time they were here. We were just determined we weren’t going to let them on the field.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2016
NEW RULES ON TRAVELLER SITES
THE government is planning a crackdown on unauthorised traveller sites and new measures to tackle travellers who flout planning rules and abuse the system. Housing minister Brandon Lewis claimed on 14 September 2014 that new planning rules would ensure fairness for all in the planning system and provide greater protection for the countryside and the green belt.
He said: “We will not sit back and allow people who bypass the law to then benefit from the protection it can offer. We have already strengthened the powers that councils have to enforce planning rules and take action against breaches which fuel community tensions. This will not only tackle the abuse of the system but prevent long drawn-out cases like Dale Farm.
“Today’s proposed measures go even further, and would end the perverse incentive for councils not to act when travellers ignore planning rules and set up unauthorised sites.”
The Department for Communities and Local Government is currently conducting a public consultation on proposed changes to planning policy and guidance in relation to travellers. It says it remains committed to increasing the level of authorised site provision, but believes that further measures are needed to ensure that planning rules apply equally to all groups, both the settled community and travellers. The consultation, which closes on 23 November, is seeking the views of local planning authorities and of gypsies and travellers themselves.
Meanwhile councils continue to face challenges relating to traveller sites. In Cornwall, there are proposals for the creation under a Section 106 agreement of a private traveller site, linked with an affordable housing project, at Coverack. This would help to resolve a long-running dispute that has seen travellers living on a car park for almost a decade.
Wychavon District Council has recently spent £12,000 in the hope of preventing traveller communities from illegally moving back onto five sites in Droitwich, after a traveller camp was removed in early October. Ledbury Town Council has proposed that brownfield sites and land owned by Herefordshire Council could be used for new traveller sites in the county. In South Staffordshire,Essington Parish Council has reacted with dismay to plans for three new sites for gypsies, travellers and travelling show people, in addition to four already in the area. South Staffordshire Council said that that the identified sites had been made available by land owners. By law, the council has to find 33 pitches over the next 14 years.
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2014
TRAVELLER SITE PLANS REJECTED
PLANS by Selby District Council in North Yorkshire for a permanent gypsy and traveller site have been rejected by its own planning committee. The council planned to turn part of Burn airfield into a 15-pitch site, but its application was rejected by a majority of seven to four. The council said that it had a legal duty to create 33 pitches over the next 15 years, and would have to consider the “wider implications” of the decision.
The plans attracted 104 letters of objection, and Burn Parish Council submitted a petition containing more than 500 signatures. Parish council chairman, Cllr Chris Phillipson, said that the proposed site was too big and would have been next to an existing site with 12 pitches.
He said: “We need to work together with Selby and help them open up a dialogue with the gypsy population. We live side by side with our gypsy residents, we get on with them, and a lot of them have been on our existing, privately run, site for more than 30 years.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2013
ELSTOW Parish Council has spent more than £4,000 to install bollards to prevent gypsies and travellers gaining access to a village green space. The Bedfordshire authority took action after travellers set up illegal encampments in the area in each of the last two years.
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2013
ROW OVER GYPSY SITE
PLANS to develop a permanent gipsy site in Winsford have provoked strong opposition from residents, councillors and business leaders. An application for 20 permanent gipsy and traveller pitches has prompted letters of objection to Cheshire West and Chester Council’s planning department, and came under fire at a meeting of Winsford Town Council.
Angry residents said that the site would add to problems in the town. Gary Hoather, of a local residents group, said: “We have one of the lowest percentages of employment in Cheshire. The perception rather than the reality will put people off moving to the area and businesses will be concerned about expanding.” Concerns were also raised about house prices, wildlife habitats, the existence of great crested newts on the site, flooding and the impact on businesses in the area.
Another resident, Graham Peattie, who managed gipsy and traveller sites when working in the private housing sector, said that Winsford had nothing to offer travelling communities. “It won’t do anything to improve the economy of this area and it will increase the security costs of business on that site,” he stated.
A former councillor, Charlie Parkinson, agreed. “Has anyone asked the travellers if they want to come to Winsford, or is this being forced upon them? I am told that they want to be along the M56 corridor,” he said.
Winsford Town Council voted unanimously to object to the plans and has called for an emergency consultation with Cheshire West and Chester Council, which selected the site.
Clerks & Councils Direct, January 2012
RESIDENTS TO FIGHT GYPSY SITE
RESIDENTS in Old Windsor are opposing a planning application for a change of use of Green Belt land from outdoor recreation and leisure to a gypsy and travellers’ accommodation site. If approved by the borough’s planning panel, five pitches – three temporary and two permanent – would be added next to an existing mobile home park housing five touring caravans in Burfield Road.
More than 250 residents attended a meeting in January of Old Windsor Parish Council to discuss the plans. They expressed a long list of concerns about the development’s impact on the Green Belt, access and traffic, rubbish, pressure on schools, crime and policing, and the impact on property prices and local businesses. They signed a petition against the proposal, which has been submitted to the Royal Borough.
Cllr Malcolm Beer said: “There is a great deal of concern about this in the community. But the Deputy Prime Minister’s code of practice for gypsy and traveller sites in fact favours this sort of use of land because there is under-provision for that community in Windsor and Maidenhead and the whole of the South East of England.
Clerks & Councils Direct, January 2011
ANGER OVER EXTRA SITES
A TOWN council is upset about a scheme to build more permanent gypsy sites in the area.
Arlesey Town Council has hit out at Central Bedfordshire Council for proposing to increase the number of pitches from four to ten.
Council chairman Cllr Hugh Harper said: “We are definitely against these plans.
“A couple of years ago we agreed with the council to have four plots.”
A GIPSY site has been refused planning permission as it sits on a flood plain. The proposal for The Causeway, Clophill, which already homes a family from the Romani Gypsy community, was refused by Central Bedfordshire Council’s planning committee.
The retrospective application received 68 letters of objection from residents and one from the parish council.
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2010
TRAVELLERS OVER LIMIT
TRAVELLERS living at an infamous fly-tipping site have breached the maximum number of caravans allowed on the field and been told to remove the extra pitches or face eviction.
Eight caravans were spotted at Brazil’s Yard, in Ash Vale, Surrey, instead of the permitted five.
Residents are concerned that extra people living at the site would be detrimental to the community.
The land, which is a designated site for travellers, has often been a source of frustration for Ash and Ash Vale residents due to fly-tippers using it for dumping waste.
Cllr Nigel Manning, chairman of Ash Parish Council, has received complaints about the increase in caravans on the site.
He said: “Many Ash and Ash Vale residents have come to me or sent me letters feeling upset about the number of caravans now sitting on Brazil’s Yard.
“The caravan subject does often tend to get residents jumping up and down, but despite this there are safety reasons as to why only five caravans should be parked on the site and this effects gipsies and the rest of the community.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2010
RAVERS ‘CAN’T BE MOVED’
ILLEGAL summer raves at a travellers’ pitch, near Calbourne, led to complaints among residents.
Several parties have been held at two areas where a number of caravans are sited, members of Calbourne Parish Council were told .
Cllr Tim Eldridge, who has since resigned, said: “It has caused a significant disturbance to residents and there have been a number of complaints. The Isle of Wight Council has still not decided where it is going to place travellers and, until then, the travellers can’t be moved on.”
The council has yet to identify an Island site for gypsies and travellers, nearly five years after it was told it must provide permanent pitches.
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2010
PLANS for three gipsy/traveller family pitches which stirred up a storm of protest in Ashton-under-Hill, Worcestershire, have been thrown out by councillors.
The scheme for the Willow Cottage site in the centre of the village was opposed by the parish council, Bredon Hill Conservation Group and dozens of villagers.
It was refused by Wychavon District Council on the grounds that it would neither preserve nor enhance the character or appearance of the Conservation Area.
Councillors said they thought that the siting of the mobile homes and three touring caravans on the site would substantially alter its open rural character and would fail to preserve the open space.
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2010
GIPSY SITE NEED ‘NOT PROVED’
WORRIED residents packed two parish council meetings held to discuss an application for a caravan site for two gypsy families.
Long Marston and Welford-on-Avon parish councils in Warwickshire were told that there was a fear that granting the application could lead to an extension of the site.
Residents raised questions on road safety, the effect the application would have on the landscape and the possibility of the site growing into a large gipsy site, which would have an even greater visual impact.
At the end of a lively public participation session 90 per cent of the audience at Welford Parish Council voted to object to the application. Councillors later voted unanimously to object to the plan on the grounds that the need for the gipsy site had not been proven by the applicant.
Following the strength of response from residents both councils will be registering objections to the development and requesting the application be determined by Stratford District Council’s planning committee rather than by planning officers.
The chairman of Welford Parish Council, Cllr Wyn Owen, said: “If this development is permitted on this green field site it will set a very dangerous precedent for similar sites in the district. We hope that the district council will follow the overwhelming view of Welford residents that this is not a suitable location.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2010
DEFEAT FOR TWO PARISHES
THE go-ahead has been given for a controversial new traveller site on the outskirts of Colchester.
The town’s borough council says it has picked the least-worst option for a site with 12 plots to accommodate up to 18 caravans at Severalls Lane.
“It is the site which most closely comes to the facilities which we feel are absolutely essential,” said council leader John Jowers.
Now Essex County Council has to decide on the proposal.
Myland and Langham parish councils had both lodged objections to the application.
Robert Johnstone, a member of Myland Parish Council’s planning committee, said many of his council’s concerns were the same as when a similar plan was first mooted in 2007.
He said: “We objected because there is not adequate space in the nearby schools to cope with traveller children, because the footpath isn’t safe to walk along, because there are no shops nearby and the location almost demands ownership of a car.”
Colchester Borough Council’s Conservative leader John Jowers said it was the site which most closely matched to the facilities which were felt to be essential.
“The study was done by independent consultants and it was quite a thorough process,” he said.
A new site has to be found after the last one at Hythe Quay was closed down four years ago.
Clerks & Councils Direct, November 2010
COURT ORDERS TRAVELLERS OUT
TRAVELLERS who have been camped on a playing field in Melksham for a month, have been served with a court order and told to move on.
Wiltshire council said: “We will support the operation should a forced eviction prove necessary and our next step is to look at the clean-up.”
Since the arrival of the group’s 10 caravans and campers the fields have been unused by local people and sports teams.
The travellers used it as an open toilet and their dogs roamed the grass untethered. They have also been involved in several disturbances in Melksham’s pubs and accused of several incidences of petty crime.
Mike Mills, chairman of Melksham Without Parish Council, said: “Please let’s get things back to normal. It’s four weeks of the summer holidays that nothing has happened on those fields.
“We encourage the kids to play down there because it’s safe. We need to get things back to normal.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2010
DOGS, CHICKENS AND COCKEREL
QUIET village life has been shattered in Watchfield with the setting up of a temporary gipsy camp complete with dogs, chickens and a cockerel.
The travellers pitched up on the recreation ground between the sports pavilion and the children’s play area.
Parish clerk Sheena Florey said that because the land is owned by Watchfield Parish Council it is deemed to be private and therefore it is a civil matter and the police cannot act.
She says that the travellers, who pitched six caravans and brought around 30 dogs have said they are not staying permanently.
She said: “They arrived between 10pm and 10.30pm on Sunday when there was not a lot people could do.”
The Vale of the White Horse District Council said that because there was no evidence that the site was going to be a permanent base, the parish council was dealing with it.
Earlier this year, retrospective planning permission for a permanent gipsy site close to Watchfield along the A420 was refused after the applicant had already moved onto the site.
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2010
DECISION COULD BE CHALLENGED
TRAVELLERS could challenge planners after they refused to grant full permission for a new caravan site.
Plans to put four mobile home pitches and a day room on land off the A44 at Upper Moor near Evesham have been given temporary permission.
Wychavon District Council planning committee members were unconvinced by the plans and despite tests showing the site was not a high flood risk, councillors refused full permission.
They granted two years’ temporary permission giving time to see if the site would flood and if the travellers’ children would attend local schools full-time.
The travellers could now take the matter to appeal.
Hill and Moor Parish Council objected to the application over concerns about the sewerage connections – although Severn Trent Water raised no objections – and also the flood risk.
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2010
VILLAGERS BATTLE ON AS TRAVELLERS SETTLE IN
MP NIGEL ADAMS BACKS CAMPAIGN AGAINST ROGUE SITES
A CAMPAIGN against unauthorised travellers’ sites in the Selby area of Yorkshire has been backed by the town’s MP.
Nigel Adams has signed an Early Day Motion pledging his support.
The motion, which has been signed by 40 other MPs, highlights the issue of green-belt land and unauthorised traveller development.
It states that the problem can be tackled if the idea of retrospective planning permission is limited and councils are given stronger powers to deal with unauthorised development.
The motion notes it is ‘concerned’ that travellers are ‘exploiting delays in the planning enforcement system’.
Despite believing that councils should be given ‘stronger powers to deal with unauthorised development’, the motion then ends by calling on the Government to give equal treatment to settled and traveller communities.
Mr Adams said: “I was more than happy to sign this Early Day Motion given the problem we have in our district with unauthorised travellers’ sites.”
The move follows a recent planning application for a change of use from a café and truck stop at Peckfield in South Milford to a ‘gipsy caravan site’.
The application includes the building of a cess tank, drainage and communal washing and toilet facilities.
Construction work at the Peckfield site in South Milford is already well under way and nearby residents say travellers have been living there for the past five months.
Mr Adams said he had a meeting with Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities and was pleased that Mr Pickles wanted to give local councils much stronger powers to deal with unauthorised travellers’ sites.
Cllr Bill Hobman, chairman of South Milford Parish Council, said: “The parish council would likely support Selby District Council in their efforts to resolve such matters by provision of properly equipped pitches for travellers at allocated locations.
“Typically we have not been in favour of recommending approval of retrospective planning applications although, in our role as consultees, we do look at each application on its merits.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2010
GIPSY BILL HIT BY £8,000 BILL
GIPSY Bill Newland has lost the latest court case in his long-running battle to resist council enforcement action.
The Ellens Green landowner has been found guilty of two offences relating to planning enforcement notices served by Waverley Borough Council in Surrey.
Mr Newland has used the land to house caravans, sheds and a summerhouse without planning permission.
The borough council, having previously refused to give permission for the caravans and other structures, served notices on Mr Newland in 2005 to try to get him to remove them.
“We gave Mr Newland and his wife planning permission for their own residential caravan for one gipsy family in 1986,” said Waverley’s head of planning, Matthew Evans, after the hearing.
In 2005, Waverley refused permission for Mr Newland to site seven mobile homes and seven additional caravans on his property, marking the start of his fight to win the right to house his extended family on the land.
The council served enforcement notices requiring Mr Newland to remove concrete bases, hardcore, fencing that marked out pitches, a three-bay garage, water and electricity supplies and drainage works.
He was also ordered to remove a summerhouse-type building and sheds used for residential purposes, as well as additional caravans.
Subsequent appeals against Waverley’s decisions were turned down.
“The enforcement notices have been supported by a planning inspector and at the High Court, but have not been complied with,” said Mr Evans.
“The site lies in a protected area of countryside, which is simply not suitable for the additional caravans and number of people living in them.
“The vast majority of residents who apply for planning permission comply with our decisions and those of the planning inspector.
“When they do not, it is only proper that we use the legal process to protect the borough,” he said.
Mr Newland was ordered by the magistrates to pay a total of £4,000 in fines and the council’s legal costs of £4,000.
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2010
CARAVAN PLAN ‘DANGEROUS’
PARISH councillors have attacked plans by a family of 11 gipsies to extend their caravan site in South Staffordshire green belt land for the second time in a year.
Brewood and Coven Parish Council voted to recommend that South Staffordshire Council rejects plans to add four extra caravans, fences and day rooms to the site at Coven Heath.
Father-of-eight Richard Dunne won a six year High Court campaign to keep his caravans on the green belt in 2009 – before controversially winning a bid to extend it by constructing permanent buildings last November.
Brewood councillor Moira Alden-Court dismissed the plans as dangerous because of poor access to the site at Brinsford Bridge.
She added that Mr Dunne has failed to abide by conditions of previous planning consent which ordered him to limit the number of spotlights on the site.
Dr Richard Taylor, the council’s head of planning, said: “If there was no mention of the word gipsy in this application and it was simply an application to build four homes in green belt, close to a dangerous road, then it would be refused straight away. This should not be any different.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2010
‘GIPSY’ LEAFLET ANNOYS COUPLE
A COUPLE were shocked at council leaflets which suggested they could be planning to turn their land into a gypsy camp.
Rick Gunn and Lyndasy Akiens started to renovate a bungalow with 12 acres in Groby, Leicestershire.
Groby Parish Council leaflets said residents had raised concerns that the site was being gutted by travellers. The couple said they had no such plans and the council’s failure to contact them felt like a personal attack.
They said they were refurbishing the bungalow and tidying the land to return it to its ‘former glory’ and planned to keep three of their own horses in the stables.
Mr Gunn said: “Lyndasy’s father has bought this property because she has a wish to live near the horses.”
Council chairman Cllr Peter Battey said they had since delivered an updated leaflet outlining the couple’s views and that Mr Gunn had been invited to speak at a council meeting.
Clerks & Councils Direct, September 2010
PARISH IGNORED IN PITCH DECISION
PLANS to double Hyndburn’s gipsy and traveller pitch provision have been given the go-ahead by councillors.
The decision comes despite objections from Altham Parish Council, which had concerns about the levels of traffic.
Lancashire County Council planning officers also asked the committee to consider potential traffic problems, pointing out that Whinney Hill is earmarked as a long-term waste disposal site.
But officers said they did not wish to make any formal objections to the plan.
Cllr Doug Hayes said he welcomed the extension which would see government guidelines on traveller provision met until 2016.
He said: “This should close the door on illegal sites being created, so I welcome it.”
It will see an extra 10 permanent pitches and five transit pitches in addition to the 15 currently present.
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010
JUDGE HALTS WORK ON TRAVELLERS SITE
OPPONENTS of travellers building a new site on green belt land have scored a significant victory after a High Court judge ruled that planning permission must be granted before work can start.
Travellers want to build a large site with room for 14 pitches on green belt land in Meriden, Solihull.
They had moved on to the land on April 30 and started dumping hardcore and removing topsoil.
In some circumstances planning permission can be granted once the work has been started and the travellers – led by former Balsall Common resident Noah Burton – had hoped to do just that.
But within hours of work starting residents set up round the clock camps to prevent building work from taking place, and council planners issued a temporary stop notice prohibiting builders from working on the site until the end of May.
But Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council took Mr Burton to court in Birmingham to prevent him from working on the site until a planning application had been approved.
Campaigners say they will now petition the council’s planning committee to ensure that the application is thrown out.
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010
GROUP ARRIVES AND DIGS IN
ANGER has erupted over the illegal development of a travellers’ site near Kenilworth, Warwickshire.
Villagers in Beausale called police after a group of travellers moved onto a field.
They claimed that the travellers, who own the land, were using diggers and road rollers to develop the plot without planning permission.
Sylvia Green, clerk to the Beausale, Haseley, Honiley and Wroxall parish council, said: “The parish council is not happy about this.
“The travellers have entrenched themselves in the site.
“There are about 20 caravans set up on the plot and an enormous amount of hardcore has gone down on the field.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010
SITE VISIT WILL DELAY DECISION
ANGRY residents were given a boost when a bid for a gypsy caravan site was deferred for a site visit.
Cheshire East Council’s planning board was set to give the retrospective application for eight caravan plots at Poole a temporary five year licence.
But Cllr Rachel Bailey moved to defer the decision pending a site visit.
The families, each with two caravans, had been able to live there without permission from council planners.
Numerous objections were made with residents saying the plans would have a detrimental impact on the ‘uniqueness’ of the area. Nearby Reaseheath College had also objected to the plans, as did Worleston Parish Council and Eddisbury MP Stephen O’Brien.
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010
VILLAGERS BUY THEIR PEACE
VILLAGERS have paid out around £250,000 to stop a travellers’ site being set up near their homes.
Nearly 30 householders clubbed together to buy a Hampshire field where two caravans were installed without permission.
The owner had applied for planning permission, prompting 570 objections, but that has now been withdrawn after the sale.
The 13 acres of agricultural land at Ropley, were reportedly sold for £150,000.
Residents feared East Hampshire District Council would not be able to turn down planning permission because it did not provide enough alternative sites for travellers.
Cllr George Brown, chairman of Ropley Parish Council, said: “We are very relieved that the situation has gone away because it did undoubtedly cause us lots of problems.
“It was unauthorised but it was clear the district council was going to struggle to enforce the rules and regulations because of other national guidelines.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010
YOU CAN STAY – FOR TWO YEARS
TRAVELLERS who moved illegally on to land in Wiltshire have been told they can stay for two years.
Temporary planning permission for 14 pitches at Calcutt near Cricklade has been granted by Wiltshire Council.
The plans were opposed by Cricklade Town Council, which was concerned about flooding and the proximity to a site of archaeological interest.
Wiltshire Council said it is developing a strategy on how traveller sites should be provided in the future.
Cllr Tony Trotman, chairman of the northern area planning committee at Wiltshire Council, said: “We want to look at all the sites that could be available in the county.
“If the decision is made that there are better legal sites elsewhere in the county then they may well have to move onto that.
“But it could be, in consultation, that where they are is suitable, so that is why the temporary planning permission has been given.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010
BUILDING BEFORE PERMISSION
A TRAVELLERS’ site built near Selby could be closed down if a retrospective planning application is not approved by councillors.
The application, submitted on behalf of the travellers, seeks a change of use from a café and truck stop in South Milford, to a `gypsy caravan site`.
Construction work at the site is already going ahead and nearby residents say travellers have been living there for the past four months.
Cllr Bill Hobman, chairman of South Milford Parish Council, said: “The parish council would likely support Selby District Council in their efforts to resolve such matters by provision of properly equipped pitches for travellers at allocated locations.”
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010
ROBB FAMILY
THE fate of the Robb traveller family remains uncertain as another planning inspector has been appointed to decide the direction of their future.
Peter Robb and his family have been defying planning law for nearly a decade by setting up home on Nuckies Farm, in Colney Heath, Hertfordshire.
Clerks & Councils Direct, July 2010