Decision due on River Lane Travellers' site - Surrey

HOUSEHOLDERS are angry at the council's "short-sighted" handling of the unauthorised Gypsy site in River Lane, Leatherhead.

On Wednesday, councillors will decide whether the 11.6-acre green belt site, owned by Gypsies who set up home there in 2003 in breach of planning rules, should be granted planning permission.

After an inquiry in 2007, a planning inspector granted temporary permission in order to give Mole Valley District Council time to find alternative sites. But the council did not find any suitable sites, so the Gypsies were allowed to submit a permanent planning application in January this year.

But River Lane homeowner Sue Woods, 54, is angry at the council for restricting the terms of its search, and ignoring sites in Ockley and Hookwood that were proposed as Gypsy sites by their owners.

 "The key issue is that it's the council we are so disappointed with," she said. "The point is the inspector didn't say only look in north Mole Valley, he didn't say they have to have a pitch that size, and didn't say they (the Gypsies) couldn't move. Councillors are very short-sighted if they think this will solve the problem."

Mrs Woods' husband Richard criticised the council for taking too long, especially as residents gathered more than 700 signatures supporting their cause. He said: "The council has known they have had temporary planning permission for four years and they didn't look at any land to offer as an alternative for three-and-a-half of those years.Then, what a surprise, they tell us they can't find anything."

But Gypsies living on the site told the Advertiser they are "living on a knife edge" because they have nowhere else to go.

Susan King said: "How can people possibly say the council has been short-sighted when they have taken four years to come up with a decision? People have to realise that, whilst there is a lot of affordable housing in Mole Valley, there aren't enough Gypsy sites. That is a fact in my view. It's become a nightmare and we are living on a knife's edge at the moment. We think of this as our home, the kids are settled in schools and have friends, but people just want us gone."