Inquiry to decide on 'urbanising' traveller site

A public inquiry is to decide whether to give permission for a number of gypsy and traveller homes.

South Cambridgeshire District Council had refused to give planning consent for the nine pitches on land south of Chear Fen Boat Club, in Twentypence Road, near Cottenham.

The authority had raised a number of concerns, including whether a nearby quarry would impact the health of families living at the site.

An appeal has now been lodged to try to overturn the council’s decision.

The council refused the planning application in 2022, saying that "the proposal would result in the encroachment into the open countryside and incremental growth in an unsustainable location".

It added that occupiers would have to "travel a significant distance via a car" to access local services and the development would lead to a "significant urbanisation" of the land, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The council also said the applicants had failed to demonstrate that the Mitchell Hill Quarry would not create "unacceptable amenity issues or adverse impacts to human health" on those living at the site.

It added that dust and noise were of "particular concern".

In a statement published following the launch of the appeal, a representative of the applicants Drew Price and James Ball said the concerns would be disproved at the public inquiry.

"As a matter of principle, gypsy sites are acceptable within the countryside, provided they do not dominate the nearest settled community," the statement said.

It added the applicants would prove the development would not dominate and was not in open countryside.

The statement went on to say the developers would show that the site was not in an unsustainable location, that the development would "not have an urbanising effect" on the area and that the site was far enough away from the quarry to avoid any health and safety issues.

The representative added that there were no alternative available sites for the families to move to and said "there seems little likelihood that there will be in the foreseeable future", highlighting that the district council was unable to demonstrate a five year supply of land for gypsy and traveller sites.

A date for the inquiry has not yet been set.

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