Accessibility settings

In order to remember your preferences as you navigate through the site, a cookie will be set.

Color preference

Text size

Agenda item

21/00088/FUL - Brookside Stables, Cold Pool Lane, Badgeworth

PROPOSAL: Variation of conditions 1 and 2 of planning permission ref: 16/01285/FUL to allow for the permanent use of site as a residential gypsy site for seven mobile homes and five touring caravans.

 

OFFICER RECOMMENDATION: Permit

Minutes:

60.72        This application was for variation of conditions 1 and 2 of planning permission ref: 16/01285/FUL to allow for the permanent use of the site as a residential gypsy site for seven mobile homes and five touring caravans.

60.73        The Planning Officer advised that the application site currently benefitted from temporary permission as a residential gypsy site for seven pitches for named members of a single extended family.  That scheme had been allowed on appeal in November 2018 but was restricted by the Inspector to a temporary period of four years only.  The current Section 73 proposal sought to make use of the site permanent but to restrict occupation to the same extended family and their dependents.  The site had been identified within the Preferred Options Borough Plan as a site allocation for the provision of Gypsy and Traveller accommodation within emerging Policy GTTS1; however, that allocation had not been carried forward within the Pre-Submission version of the plan.  During the Borough Plan’s Examination in Public in February/March 2021, the Inspector had noted there was a requirement for eight pitches over the plan period to 2031 which represented a ‘challenging figure’.  The Inspector found the Council’s reasons for excluding the Brookside Stables site to be unconvincing and subsequently recommended the re-inclusion of the site for seven pitches as one of the main modifications in order to make the plan sound.  As the site lay within the Green Belt, there remained a requirement to demonstrate very special circumstances and, in this case, the site’s allocation within the emerging Borough Plan, together with the specific needs of the family and best interests of the children living within the site, were considered to demonstrate that very special circumstances did exist which would outweigh the Green Belt harm by reason of inappropriateness in accordance with Paragraph 148 of the National Planning Policy Framework.  In light of this, it was recommended that the application be permitted.

60.74        The Chair invited the applicant’s agent to address the Committee.  The applicant’s agent suggested that today was a potentially historic moment for two reasons.  The site had gone through the local plan process and the Council now had site allocations for Gypsies and Travellers that were almost adopted – this was a historic moment for the Council as national planning policy had required local authorities to allocate land for this process since 1994 and, even after 28 years, many had not been able to achieve this.  There was much for Tewkesbury Borough Council to celebrate as today it had entered a class of local authorities which had actually made allocations for Gypsies and Travellers.  Secondly, today could be a historic moment for the applicant following two decades of uncertainty and the applicant’s agent made reference to the applicant’s personal circumstances.  He pointed out that the application did not seek to remove the condition restricting occupation to the applicant and their extended family.  Another historic day had occurred two years earlier when the Planning Committee had granted permission for Travelling Showpeople on a large parcel of Green Belt at Staverton; that site was part of the emerging plan and, on that occasion, the Committee had come through for part of the community whose accommodation needs had historically been difficult to meet – today he invited the Committee to do the same for the Gypsy and Traveller community and permit the application.

60.75        The Chair indicated that the Officer recommendation was to permit the application and he sought a motion from the floor.  It was proposed that the application be permitted on a temporary basis for four years with the justification for that being that Gypsy and Traveller sites would be allocated in the Tewkesbury Borough Plan.  The proposer of the motion stated this was a two tier process along with Joint Core Strategy 2 and he felt that Gypsy and Traveller sites needed to be assessed in the round as part of that process.  He was a big advocate of Travelling Showpeople and Traveller sites but he was concerned that approving this application could have a potentially detrimental impact over the longer term.  This proposal did not receive a seconder.  It was subsequently proposed and seconded that the application be permitted in accordance with the Officer recommendation.  A Member queried whether there would be a strict limit on the numbers and confirmation was provided that the site would be restricted to seven mobile homes and five touring caravans.  A Member asked what safeguards were in place should the site be identified for expansion and the Planning Officer confirmed there would be restrictions in place via planning condition which would limit the number of pitches to seven as the number allocated in the emerging Borough Plan.  If anything else came forward, it would need to be considered on its own merits at that time. 

60.76        Upon being put to the vote, it was

RESOLVED           That the application be PERMITTED in accordance with the Officer recommendation.

Supporting documents: