Plans for gypsy/traveller site on Newtown Road in Newbury marked for retrospective approval by West Berkshire Council

Plans to change the use of a plot of land into a gypsy/traveller site are marked for approval by West Berkshire Council despite 42 objections.

The land is south of Abbottswood on Newtown Road in Newbury and the objections range from complaints that is is a retrospective application, it causes pollution, and sits outside the settlement boundary of Newbury in open countryside,

The application site is located within the registered Grade II park and garden for Sandleford Priory.

The application seeks planning permission for change of use of land for one gypsy/traveller pitch with a mobile home, one touring caravan, and the proposed construction of a dayroom.

It also includes the construction of a stables building for private equestrian use.

Evidence has been submitted that the northern part of the site has been used for outdoor storage by a landscape garden company and a builder/roofer for storage of materials.

While the remainder of the site is used for grazing.

The council is required to take into account the human rights of the applicants as members of the travelling/gypsy community and the needs of the family in relation to education and health care.

In this regard the council has received confidential information on the personal circumstances of the occupants of the site, which in the view of the officers supports to the overall recommendation of approval in this case.

The council currently does not have a five-year supply of specific deliverable sites and therefore has a shortfall of gypsy and traveller pitches and says it is 17 pitches short of its requirement.

The council officers say the development makes a positive contribution towards addressing the identified shortfall and this public benefit must be given significant weight.

The matter goes before the western area planning committee tomorrow (Wednesday).