3:07pm Tuesday 9th March 2010
By Oliver Evans
A PLAN to allow gypsy caravans at a Marsh field have been thrown out - but sites at Stokenchurch and Studley Green were approved.
Wycombe District Council last night rejected a two-caravan scheme for The Willows in Marsh Lane, near Aylesbury because another site in the tiny hamlet could be used.
Yet its ruling cabinet committee voted through letting gypsies or travellers use Dry Banks in Oxford Road, Stokenchurch and Five Oaks Farm in Studley Green.
About 40 residents from the Stokenchurch and Studley Green area attended and afterwards slammed the decision, which follows a month-long consultation.
But councillors say they are being forced to find 15 caravan pitches by the Government in a bid to stop illegal camps such as one at Hemley Hill near Princes Risborough.
The move will make obtaining planning permission easier. It is unusual for the cabinet – which are all Conservative – to be split over a vote.
Amid tense scenes, Councillor Jean Teesdale, the cabinet member for planning, told members: “I would urge you to think very carefully before you make this decision.
“You are going to make it very very difficult.”
Earlier she said: “The Government would come and put sites where they thought they should be and we would have no say whatsoever,”
They moved after Icknield back bencher Councillor Pam Priestly slammed the Willows plan.
She said: “Social tension has been increased by all of this in what should be a peaceful hamlet.”
Yet planning boss Jerry Unsworth said: “There are separate rules that we have to use for this than ordinary housing.
The sites:
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“Gypsy and traveller accommodation can be permitted where ordinary housing cannot.”
He said: “That makes it very difficult for people to understand.”
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But cabinet member Councillor Audrey Jones said members should wait for a present planning application to be decided, for six caravans at Ashbrook Farm, Marsh Lane.
This was passed four to three. Cllr Priestley said afterwards: “I am very pleased.”
Yet controversy remains over the Stokenchuch and Studley Green site, which were passed.
Councillor Chris Watson, a member for Stokenchurch & Radnage, said the authority was being ‘pragmatic rather than principled’ as caravans had been at the Studley Green site illegally for ’20 years’.
This ‘hasn’t been properly enforced’ and Cllr Watson of the move to make it legal: “I think that is very much against the principles of this council.”
He said he was ‘surprised’ there were no other sites as using Green Belt land, which Studley Green is in, would only be used if ‘there were no other alternatives’. He voted against.
There was a cry of disbelief from the audience when Cllr Teesdale told residents: “There is nothing for you to fear.”
She said: “I tend to think the local people are quite okay with people that are living there at the moment.”
One audience member said ‘there have been complaints’ and another asked ‘what happens if they move off?’.
The site would only be expanded for ‘family reasons’ she said, if the occupants’ family grew.
Cllr Teesdale said: “No-one can talk about the future, none of us know what the future is going to bring.”
And she said: “To try and evict these people now, at this site, now they are so well established, is near impossible.” The council would lose on appeal, she said.
Councillor Roger Emmett, who led a probe into potential sites, said the chosen sites had to be small because of ‘concerns about mixing families’.
He said: “The different groups fall out with each other.”
Afterwards Horsleys Green resident Steve Dampier, 45, slammed the Studley Green move.
He said: “It sends out a clear message to people that if you want to flout planning laws, just ignore planning notices and hang on for as long as you can and you will be allowed.”
And Stokenchuch Parish Council member Mike Jones said: “We are not happy at all – we will fight this.”
The following sites were also considered for the study:
• Land next to Pettigrove, Lower Icknield Way, Longwick and Dry Banks, Stokenchurch again.
• Park Mill Farm, Princes Risborough, one to 12 pitches.
• Former BOCM site, near Stoke Mandeville, one to 12 pitches.
• Abbey Barn North, High Wycombe, one to five pitches.
• Ashwells, Tylers Green, one to 12 pitches.
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