Shenleybury Cottages site 'best ever seen for Gypsies' - Borehamwood

AN expert has said a disputed green belt site in Shenleybury is the most appropriate she has ever seen for a small Gypsy family. 

Alison Heine, a Gypsy and Traveller specialist at the Royal Town Planning Institute, gave evidence this afternoon to the planning inquiry into a gypsy family occupying land adjacent to Shenleybury Cottages.
She said: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a better site on the green belt, I think the council would struggle to find anywhere better for a small family site such as this.
“This is a really good site for Travellers – unlike other sites it is not next to a motorway, it’s not under pylons, it’s a good situation for Gypsies and Travellers.”
Ms Heine dismissed the idea of finding new Gypsy sites in urban areas away from residential areas as “absurd”, and pulled apart Hertsmere Borough Council’s efforts to find new Gypsy sites in the area.

THE occupier of disputed green belt land in Shenleybury has apologised for not seeking planning permission for her caravan.
Gypsy Sarah Price has appealed to the planning inspector after Hertsmere Borough Council refused her application for retrospective planning permission for the land adjacent to homes in Shenleybury Cottages.
She told the first day of an inquiry today: “I can only apologise for occupying the site before getting planning permission.
“I was desperate as my children was not getting educated, there was nowhere safe to stop, and no access to water or toilets.”
The site, which currently has a caravan, a generator, and a portable toilet on it, has been the subject of controversy since Ms Price's ex-husband bought the land for £56,000 in December 2009.
She denied having problems with the neighbours, describing herself as a private person.
The 28-year-old said: “I've found them as they found me. I do my thing and they do their thing.
“I've never had a falling out with anyone, I've never been rude to any of them, and they've never been rude to me.
“I don't treat them any different to how I would treat a gypsy lady or gentleman. We've all got our own rights and if you close your door, that's the way it should be.”

Neighbours: Shenleybury Gypsy site has 'disrupted our lives'

NEIGHBOURS of a disputed Gypsy site in Shenleybury have appealed to a planning inspector to reject the bid to stay on the land.
Mark Blundell, chairman of the Action Group for a Safer Shenley, led the calls for the inspector, who is overseeing an appeal into land adjacent to Shenleybury Cottages, to rule in their favour.
He said the arrival in December 2009 of Sarah Price, who has parked a caravan along with a generator and portable toilets, has disrupted the “peaceful, rural backwater” in which they live.

'No justification' for rejecting Shenleybury Gypsy camp application, Hertsmere planner admits

A SENIOR Hertsmere planner has admitted temporary planning permission should have been granted to a Gypsy camp in Shenleybury.

Andrew Smith was grilled today at the Shenleybury Cottages planning inquiry, and asked to justify the decisions taken in the case by Hertsmere Borough Council.
Alan Masters, representing the site’s occupier Sarah Price, pointed out councillors had agreed the case fell into “very special circumstances” because there were no available Gypsy sites in the borough, but shortly afterwards an enforcement notice was issued on Ms Price, in March this year.
Mr Smith admitted there is “no planning policy that support that approach”, but he later insisted the enforcement notice was an expedient course of action to take.
When Mr Masters argued there was no planning justification for not granting the application, the senior planner agreed - “for a temporary period”.
And when pressed further on the enforcement notice served on Ms Price, Mr Smith said: “Perhaps the answer is that it possibly could be not expedient to issue an enforcement notice at the time.”