A family have been allowed to turn a paddock into a site for their family in Whaplode St Catherine.
Whaplode Parish Council objected to the part retrospective planning application for an allocated travellers site only for the family of applicants Mr and Mrs Smith at Hurdletree Bank, claiming the site was ‘unsustainable’.
Despite there being no objections from the public, some councillors on South Holland District Council’s Planning Committee too voiced opposition.
Chief among the concerns aired were that the site for four caravans was too far from Whaplode, but planning officers advised that sustainability planning laws are different for people who comply with the definition of a ‘gypsy or traveller’.
Coun Allan Beal, told the meeting: “This site is not in the local plan.
“We recently turned down a proposal for some eco houses which are a lot closer than the main part of Whaplode on the grounds they were unsustainable. This is even further away and as such I fail to understand it can be sustainable.
“I hear that different types of applicants are considered differently, but if we are to grant this we’re opening the floodgates to applicants left, right and centre through the whole of the district.”
However officers pointed out a gypsy and traveller site had been passed nearby and a bid to refuse the application was voted against by the committee.
Coun Andrew Tennant said: “None of the neighbours objected and how can we say we’ve allocated a site close to this one and then turn round and say this one isn’t sustainable. If I was looking at an appeal I’d just laugh.
“I can imagine there’s members of the Travellers community that don’t want to live in a large site and would prefer to integrate into a community which this one is.
“I dare bet if someone put an application for a travellers site 40 yards from a shop in Whaplode the councillors saying this site is too far away would be up in arms.
“If you talk to most member of the population and say where would you like a gypsy and traveller site, they would turn round and say ‘plenty of room down the Marsh’. This is an application that fits a need we have in South Holland.”
Planning committee chair James Avery added before the application was voted through: “We’ve had gypsy and traveller sites in the past which the local residents object to and we’ve passed them and here we have a small, relatively discreet site in the back of nowhere with no objections but some of the committee don’t like it.”
The application was passed by eight votes to two with two abstentions.
South Holland District Council development manager Richard Fidler said of the applicants “They are an established family within the area. They’ve lived in the district at different sites for a number of years and the children attend local schools and they’re registered with local doctors.
“They’ve been searching for their own family site which can they own rather than have the uncertainty of renting elsewhere.
“They’ve come across this site which was available and the view of officers is it does meet the criteria and the applicant is willing to accept a personal condition that the site will only be used by them and their family.”
