Gypsies in bid to stay - Gloucestireshire

GYPSIES are seeking permission to keep their caravan at Brookthorpe for another three years.

The retrospective application for the married couple to stay living in a field off Naas Lane will come before Stroud District Council for a decision on December 13.

Brookthorpe Parish Council has objected because the caravan is not essential for agricultural or forestry purposes.

But council officials have reported to the authority's development control committee that a key consideration had to be the need for additional gypsy accommodation.

In total, an extra 20 residential gypsy pitches were currently needed in the district but to date only one had been permitted, the report has made clear.

The application for the caravan should therefore be allowed, the officers wrote, in order to meet the proven need.