Plans for two traveller pitches on green belt land

PLANS have been submitted for new travellers’ pitches on green belt land outside a Nottinghamshire village.

Space will be created for two new caravans and the keeping of horses off Mansfield Road in Papplewick, should Gedling Borough Council give the go-ahead.

Submitting the application, Green Planning Studio said the pitches meet a need for such facilities to “facilitate a gypsy lifestyle” in the area. In a planning statement dated February 5, the applicant said there was already a stable block and horses on the adjoining site, as well as space for a touring caravan to be stationed.

Papplewick Parish Council has strongly opposed the plans, saying it was “not an appropriate site” for a static caravan development. Its chair, Councillor Stephanie Roberts, wrote: “Papplewick Parish Council continues to object to this land being used for anything other than smallscale equestrian purposes.”

She said the council was also aware of other inappropriate uses for the green belt land over the years, describing the existing wall as “unsightly and totally out of place in the green belt on a private road”.

Councillor Roberts added: “Whilst a small stable block is appropriate in green belt, what exists is more like a residential bungalow rather than suitable for keeping horses.

“That said, the over-high wall makes knowing exactly what is on the site and what it is being used for very difficult.”

Green Planning Studio said the impact of the proposed 0.5 acre extension would “at worst be limited impact or other harm to the openness of the green belt”. “It is directly adjacent to development to the east and also behind a plethora of infill residential development along the A60 (Mansfield Road),” it said. The area to the east has a mobile home and other residential developments, planning documents say.