Housing plans rejected at embattled travellers’ site
Landowner says site is not a viable investment
PROPOSALS for housing to replace an “unworkable” traveller site have been refused.
Landowners at Dalebook Farm had hoped to gain outline planning permission to build up to 75 homes on the plot off Leicester Road Earl Shilton.
The bid followed an unsuccessful attempt to use the land for traveller pitches - a scheme fiercely fought by local residents.
Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council planning committee members rejected the application at their latest meeting.
They followed officer recommendations for refusal on the grounds the site was in the countryside with limited access to services and facilities and would not “complement or enhance the intrinsic value, undeveloped rural character of the countryside and rural setting”.
Earl Shilton ward representative Janice Richards said she was disappointed with the decision. She added: “Just about 200 yards down the road from the site you enter the gateway to Hinckley and Bosworth and in my view it would have made more sense to have had muchneeded affordable houses there.
“The two sites that were given planning permis- sion for caravans had conditions in place which have not been adhered to and that has caused many problems, the owner then put a planning application for a development for 49 houses which I would have supported and I am sure the obstacles could have been overcome.
“Officers stated it was down for refusal as it is in an unsustainable location for development, but if it is OK for caravans it is surely OK for houses. They state that it is outside the site allocation document, so contrary to housing development policy. They stated that to allow this application would set a precedent for other villages - but there can be rural exceptions where areas can be approved. We will now have to wait to see what the owner intends to do.”
The land at Dalebrook has been at the centre of controversy for years. The settlement, with permission for 10 pitches to accommodate 20 caravans, was sanctioned in 2013.
Unhappy residents in Earl Shilton amassed a £40,000 fighting fund but their efforts failed and in 2015 permission was given for a further 10 pitches.
Since then there have been various breaches of planning conditions and enforcement action taken by the borough council raising tensions within the community, both settled and traveller.
When explaining the reasons for the residential turnaround site co-owner Maurice Black called the site a “poisoned chalice” and said more than £60,000 worth of vandalism and theft had occurred in the last year.
Mr Black, himself from the traveller community, said: “Since we purchased the site we have experienced a number of different issues. In my view the issues on the site have in part stemmed from the section 106 agreement signed by the previous owner.
“This agreement allows the council to direct any gypsies and travellers to our site. This has been used by the LPA (local planning authority) to defend a number of planning appeals in the area.
“This is a site where there is already significant bad feeling from many in the gypsy and traveller community who feel that this has been forced upon them.
“My business partners and I have been under pressure from both our own community and the local residents of Earl Shilton as a consequence of all that has taken place. We are no longer in a position where this is a viable investment for us.”