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Plans to extend Lutton traveller site refused




A plan to expand a traveller site has been refused due to its ‘inappropriate size’.

South Holland District Council has turned down applicant Ms C Bushby’s request to create an additional 13 pitches at Green Acres Park in Lutton.

Traveller site, Ropers Gate Lutton.
Traveller site, Ropers Gate Lutton.

The application also included a request for an internal access road and landscaping at the Ropers Gate site, which currently accommodates three traveller pitches, but has received previous permission to site up to eight.

The planning officer report stated this amount would be acceptable, however, a total of 16 pitches ‘would represent a large-scale site’.

“It’s location close to only a small number of dwellings suggests that a large-scale site is inappropriate,” it added.

The site plan
The site plan

“Furthermore, the proposal whilst acceptable in general principle terms does not sufficiently justify the site-specific need to intensify the number of pitches to 16, when previous planning permission (for eight total pitches) has never been met/fulfilled on this site.”

The applicant provided SHDC with an email stating that there have been a ‘substantial number of enquiries to rent and also to sell plots’ and that ‘there is a significant need for these plots’.

The report added that as many as 16 plots would create ‘unacceptable amenity impacts’.

How the plans would look
How the plans would look

“The site is close to a small group of dwellings located around the B1356, Kingsgate and Ropers Gate (the nearest settled community) and would, if approved represent a disproportionate balance between the local community and the number of gypsy traveller plots,” it stated.

“This is likely to result in unacceptable amenity impacts through intensification (lighting, noise, disturbance) upon the amenity rights of existing residents.

“In turn, the proposal is unlikely to promote a peaceful and integrated co-existence between the site and the local community, due to it being annexed from the nearest defined settlement boundary,

“The intensification of this site, in this location by virtue of noise, disturbance and other polluting activities associated with the increased number of residents is likely to have unacceptable impacts upon the amenity levels of existing residents.”

The report added: “Furthermore, consideration is also given to the lack of services and facilities within the nearby hamlet or within the local and immediate area. In this regard, the application site would be remote from shops, schools, health services or employment opportunities for any future residents.

“As such, the site is not considered to be a suitable or sustainable location for a larger gypsy/traveller site as proposed, with future residents being solely reliant on the use of cars or other motorised vehicles to go about their day to day lives and living.”

Public representations raised a number of concerns regarding the plans, including flood risks, highway safety, the fact there is a similar development close by, that the scale was disproportionate to a nearby settlement and that it would create a strain on GPs.

The Environment Agency objected to the plan because it ‘falls within a flood risk vulnerability category’.



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