Traveller caravans plan is submitted for Hurworth Moor - Darlington

ANOTHER application for four more Traveller caravans has been submitted for a village site.

Foster Lee has submitted a planning application to site four mobile homes and six touring vans on land he and his brother-in-law own at Snipe Lane, near Hurworth.
It follows a number of other previous applications which have been given permission in the area, some on appeal.

A planning statement issued with Mr Lee's application used published figures for more than 60 additional sites that were required by 2021 across Darlington to cite the need for the site.

The four pitches would be used by Mr Lee and his family, who have strong connections with the Darlington area.

They claim Gypsy status because they travel for four or five months each summer, principally for work reasons.

The application added: "All or at least the large majority of the land off this section of Snipe Lane is owned by local Gypsies, including the farm complex on Snipe Lane, which is partly laid out as a Gypsy site, the riding stables and a number of fields used as paddocks.

"In the vicinity two recent permissions have been granted for residential use."

After one of those sites was given approval, ward councillor Martin Swainston called for Darlington Borough Council to extend its existing sites rather than allowing smaller private plots in open countryside.

The council said consultation was taking place before the publication of a new report.