Travellers win right to live on their own land
THE mother of a Nottinghamshire traveller family feels a weight has been lifted off her shoulders after she and her neighbours won an appeal against a decision to stop them living on land they own.
Charlotte Smith, 34, has lived off Winthorpe Road, Newark, for two and a half years with her husband, four children, and other families who live on the six pitches.
But this way of life was threatened until the group won a High Court appeal quashing an enforcement notice by the local authority and Planning Inspectorate telling them to clear the site and stop living on it.
The High Court was not convinced the Planning Inspector had given enough weight to the council not having a five-year supply of traveller sites.
The travellers claim Newark and Sherwood District Council tried to push them into living in a larger, more established traveller community in Tolney Lane, Newark.
Charlotte said: “When we first arrived and bought the land, the council were keen to move us to Tolney Lane where there is already a pretty big traveller community set up. Just because we are travellers we don’t all have to live together.
“It seems like they wanted to keep the community in that area and even though we have friends who live down there, it’s not down to the council to choose where we live. If we were from other minorities, we would not be told we had to live with others like us.
“We have lived by the roadside before and we don’t want to have to do that again. We want to be part of the local community here and a lot of people have welcomed us which is so great to see.
“Travellers get such a bad name but there’s good and bad in any community. You can’t just judge someone because of the minority they come from. You can’t paint us all with the same brush.”
Newark and Sherwood District Council has said the site off Winthorpe Road is not suitable to live on because it is at risk of flooding.
HIGH COURT OVERTURNS
RULING BY PLANNING INSPECTORATE
But Charlotte said the Tolney Lane site has similar problems, adding: “They’ve had to evacuate so many times in the past and I don’t see how we’d be better there by the river.
“I know the fight is not over but we will do anything we can to make a home here.
“If the council wants us to put things in place to make it somewhere we can live, then we’ll do that.
“By winning the appeal it does feel like a weight has been lifted off us without a time frame hanging over us for when we could be forced to leave here. It’s nice to know we can have Christmas here as a family.”
The Planning Inspectorate is awaiting a copy of the High Court judgement before a decision is made on whether to appeal.
If it does not appeal, the local planning appeal hearing will be re-heard at a date to be agreed by the Planning Inspectorate with the council and the appellants. Councillor Roger Blaney, Newark and Sherwood District Council planning committee chairman, said: “We will wait for the Planning Inspectorate’s decision and respond accordingly.”
A spokesman for the Planning Inspectorate said: “The quality and accuracy of our decisions is very important to the Planning Inspectorate. We have been informed of the judgement and awaiting a copy of the Court Order before deciding whether to seek leave to appeal.”
A statement from Newark and Sherwood District Council said: “Maintaining a deliverable fiveyear supply of gypsy and traveller sites is challenging for many local authorities across England.
“The council continues to be committed to finding future sites and has stated that 118 pitches are required by 2033 to ensure the wellbeing of its gypsy and traveller community in the future.”