'Where can we move if they force us out of our homes?' - Wales

A COMMUNITY of Travellers facing the possible threat of eviction from their Llanelli home has pleaded to be allowed to stay.

Families who live at the caravan site beneath Sandy Bridge say they have put down roots in the community and do not want to be turfed out.

They have applied for retrospective planning permission for a number of caravans to remain on land previously used as a storage yard, but are worried eviction could be on the cards after Environment Agency officials raised fears over flooding.

Carmarthenshire Council is expected to turn down the application.

One of the Travellers at the site, who asked not to be named, said they had lived in the area for 22 years.

"This is our home — I would fight them all the way," he said.

"I moved here as a little boy with my father and mother.

"It is a residential site and we have never had any floods here in 50 years."

The Traveller added that his brother and both their children also lived at the site.

"We don't want to put our children on the road," he said.

"This waste yard came up for sale and we went and bought this and extended the caravan park for our children to go into.

"We come from a Traveller community but our children go to school here.

"We are not going to move. If we move, where can we go?

"We will have to sell our static homes and buy touring caravans and move around the lakes in Llanelli and cause the council problems. We are not leaving Llanelli."

The plea comes in the wake of a statement from the authority that it intends to refuse the application on advice from Environment Agency Wales.

An EAW spokesman said: "Flooding is dangerous, devastating and distressing for people and we will object to any application that would increase the risk of flooding for homes and businesses.

"This is in line with Welsh Government guidance in TAN 15.

"In this application, which is a vulnerable development, the Flood Consequence Assessment did not address the risk of flooding to those who live there or other people who may be affected.

"If this assessment did address all of our concerns, and the risk of flooding could be managed, we would drop our objection."

Ward councillor Sian Caiach said the situation was complicated because the Travellers did have planning permission for part of the site.

She added that in 10 years as a councillor she had only received one complaint about the site, and that was of dogs barking.

A Carmarthenshire Council spokesman said: "One objection has been received from the Environment Agency and so the authority will be refusing a retrospective planning application, the case for which is being prepared but it is not likely to be completed until February or March when the application will very likely be determined by delegated powers."