Three more Wyre Forest sites to be considered for Travellers - Kidderminster

ANOTHER three Wyre Forest sites are being considered for Gypsy and Traveller use.

Plots at Clows Top Garage and the former Yieldingtree Packing site at Hackman’s Gate off the A450 could become home to travelling Showpeople, while a site at Hoobrook Trading Estate in Kidderminster could accomodate caravan pitches.

The new additions to the growing shortlist of possible plots came after Wyre Forest District Council’s Local Development Framework (LDF) panel met on Monday. The panel asked officers to investigate whether the owners of any of the sites were prepared to make them available for Travellers and to report to the scrutiny committee on January 30.

The LDF have agreed to recommend to scrutiny that three sites at Sandy Lane, Stourport - Nunn’s Corner, Saiwen and The Gables Yard - are suitable for traveller use and should be included in the Site Allocations and Policies Development Plan Document (DPD).

The panel also agreed with officers that the public should have their say on four alternative sites in Stourport that were not part of consultation back in October/November 2011.

The sites which will be the subject of a six week consultation are:

• Land opposite the Gatehouse, Sandy Lane.

• 28/29 Sandy Lane.

• 1a Broach Road, Sandy Lane.

• Land at Wilden Lane, north of the industrial estate.

A temporary two-year planning permission was granted by the Council opposite the Gatehouse in November 2011 and the Wilden Lane land would be for travelling showpeople.

The LDF Panel recommendations will be considered by the district council’s scrutiny committee on January 30 which will then make recommendations to the cabinet, which meets the following day.

Both meetings will be held in the Civic Hall, Stourport starting at 6pm. The cabinet will make a final decision on all the sites in question at the meeting.

The final decision on the pre-submission version of both the Site Allocations and Policies Development Plan Document and the Kidderminster Central Area Action Plan Development Plan Document is expected to be made by cabinet in June and Council in July. The documents will then be submitted to the Secretary of State and an examination in public is expected to be held later this year by an inspector from the Planning Inspectorate before they are finally adopted.