THE door was slammed shut on plans to make a Leatherhead Gypsy site permanent amid fears their approval might lead to an ‘open door policy’ for such applications in Mole Valley.
Wednesday night’s decision to refuse permanent permission for four pitches off River Lane was the latest chapter in a saga going back almost nine years, since travellers bought the land in 2003.
It will not be the end of it either, with the families now considering an appeal against the district council decision or putting in another temporary application.
An officer report advised councillors to allow the plans as the authority had failed to find an alternative place for the four families to live, but most members ignored this and the plans were thrown out.
A government inspector ruled in 2007 that the families could stay while the council was given four years to conduct this search, but officers looked at 41 sites in the north of Mole Valley and found all to be unsuitable or unavailable.
The families then asked to stay permanently, something opposed by people living nearby who are angry at the impact of the site on the three acres of rural land.
More than 600 people signed two petitions opposing the idea.
As it is in the green belt, the site would normally be deemed as inappropriate development, but council officers said the government officer’s ruling and the failure to find other land made opposing the permanent application difficult.
Councillors admitted the council had failed the families and other residents of Mole Valley by not finding somewhere else, but Jenny Moore, speaking for the families, said they would be unlikely to find such a happy home.
“These families have been part of the local community for the last eight years,” she said. “They have integrated into local schools, they feel Leatherhead is their home. To be accepted by so many and supported by people outside their own community means everything.”
Leatherhead Trinity was among the groups which sent in letters of support for the proposals, along with a church, charity, shop and football club in the town.
But some councillors were angry they were given emotive information about the children when they were trying to make a decision on planning grounds.
They raised fears of an increase in the site’s current 31 residents and an “erosion of the rural gap between Leatherhead and Fetcham”. Several said the applicants’ ethnic group should not affect their decision.
Cllr Rosemary Dixon (Leatherhead South) questioned whether this building on green belt land would be allowed if they were doctors and dentists.
“No other person would be allowed to get away with this,” she said. “I have nothing against Gypsies and Travellers. I find it hard to believe nowhere else would accommodate them. If we allow this, what will happen when Gypsies move on to Ranmore Common, Norbury Park or further down River Lane?”
Her fears that the council could be seen to have an open-door policy to such applications were echoed by Cllr Derrick Burt (Dorking North).
He said: “I would love to buy land in the green belt and build houses for my children on it, except that would harm the green belt, which is the reason we want to live here. There are 1,400 people on the housing list who would love to build on the green belt.”
But Cllr Valerie Homewood (Beare Green) said: “If we decide to refuse this, which will go to appeal, we will probably have to find somewhere for these folk anyway. We’re asking people to leave their homes but not having anywhere for them to go.”
see also: Surrey Today
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