THE controversial application to give a temporary gypsy caravan site permanent status at Walton, Warrington – and increase the number of caravans – has been thrown out by borough council planning chiefs.
Members of the development management committee decided, after visiting the site, that the proposal would result in too many caravans.
The application was submitted on behalf of traveller families living at the Two Acre Caravan Park, Warrington Road, Walton.
It sought permission for 24 permanent pitches, with a total of 33 caravans, including mobile homes, day room, site office and four amenity buildings.
Gypsy or traveller families have been living on the site, alongside the Bridgewater Canal, since 1997 after winning temporary planning consent. But the temporary consent expired in December last year so the site is currently unauthorised.
Cllr Paul Kennedy, who represents the area on Warrington Borough Council, told the committee the site wss overcrowded.
He said the application gave the impression that all that was being asked for was permanency for what already existed. But if that was so, the site was already in serious breach of previous permissions which limited the site to 15 families and 22 caravans.
The current application sought permission for 27 families and 35 caravans – a “massive scaling up” of the site
Fifteen nearby residents opposed the application on the grounds an increase in the size of the site would increase traffic to an unacceptable level. Amenity buildings on the site had never had planning permission, they claimed.
Planning officers said the scheme should be refused because it was an inappropriate development in the Green Belt causing demonstrable harm to the character and appearance of the countryside.
The caravan park, alongside the Bridgewater Canal
Gypsy caravan site plan thrown out
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2 Comments
So what happens now then, other than them probably putting in an appeal to the Planning Inspectorate?
I can’t see an appeal being upheld and approved but I can’t really see them being forced to vacate the land they own and have lived on for so long either.
Maybe the extra families will just buy another plot of land nearby, maybe they even already own some, and move onto that in the hope they can gain 20 years of temporary permission after being ‘evicted’.
The original number of people/vans may stay on the existing site and they then will apply again for permanent status or extension of temporary on there.
If they did that we could finish up with TWO sites.
I very much doubt this latest refusal will be the last of it……
Considering that it is now a legal requirement for Councils to provide permanent residential sites for gypsy/traveller people, we should be glad that our local site is clean, tidy, exceptionally well-run by Mr. Bill Smith and his family. The occupants (mostly) have spent nearly 20 years there and deserve the respect they have earned. This 2-acre site is a credit to the Cheshire area and it is high time it was granted permanent status and that any old-fashioned stigma is removed. Personally I regard them as good neighbours and I rely on some of their people for work to be done locally.