AN APPEAL has been launched over plans for a travellers site in the Worcestershire countryside.
Councillors turned down plans for two static caravans, two touring caravans, sheds, fencing and other work on land at the junction of the B4204 and New Road at Broadheath, between Tenbury Wells and Martley.
The proposal, for land opposite the historic Fox Inn, was partly retrospective, with access, hardstanding, fencing and some caravans already in place at the site.
PUB: The listed Fox Inn is opposite the proposed traveller site (Image: MHDC)
Malvern Hills District Council’s planning officers had recommended the scheme for approval but members of the northern area planning committee turned it down.
Councillors said gates at the entrance to the site were “visually intrusive” and the site itself was in an “unsustainable location” as it was a long distance from schools, GP surgeries, shops and other services.
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An appeal has now been launched by the applicant, meaning the final decision will now be in the hands of a government planning inspector.
Appeal documents state: “Malvern Hills District Council has a poor record of ensuring an appropriate supply of gypsy and traveller sites, and having failed to secure public sites within the Worcester urban extension schemes, this has led to an even more pressing need for deliverable sites and a complete reliance on private windfall sites.
‘Pressing need for more traveller sites’
“Because of this ongoing and historic policy failure, families such as the applicants remain without a settled base.
“Given the pressing local need for traveller sites, this proposal represents an opportunity to provide additional pitches at no cost to the public purse.”
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It argues that previous access to the site off the B4204 has been closed off and a more discreet access opened up off New Road.
“The former access has been closed off with planting, and this can be improved with more appropriate native species as well as an internal fence stained dark brown or a colour to be agreed with the council,” the applicant says.
The appeal case points out that, in relation to the site being too far from the nearest services, the recently-adopted South Worcestershire Development Plan Review says sites should be “within a reasonable distance” of services but the term ‘reasonable distance’ is not defined.