Gypsy site plan goes to appeal hearing - Wiltshire

From the Salisbury Journal

A FAMILY of Gypsies who want to return to their traditional way of life are anxiously awaiting the decision of a planning inspector.

David Cooper, his brothers Edward and Alan, his sister Jennifer and their families want to move onto land they own at Hillbilly Acre off Southampton Road but Wiltshire Council refused them planning permission for eight mobile homes.

They are appealing against the council’s decision and a planning inspector heard from them, as well as disgruntled local residents, at a hearing last week.

The Cooper family have owned the land for 39 years and David Cooper, his wife and daughter are already living in a mobile home onsite.

The rest of the family are currently in council housing or privately-owned homes but want to return to living on a Gypsy site and Sarah Green, representing them at the hearing, said many Gypsies and Travellers have been forced into housing and there is a clear and immediate need for dedicated sites in Salisbury.

The family say none of the existing Gypsy sites in the area are suitable and want to live on their own land, which is currently an agricultural smallholding.

But people living nearby say no development should be allowed on the site as it is next to a Grade I listed building, which was the first house to be built by architect Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin in 1835.

Residents have also raised concerns about highway safety, as the access to the site is off the busy Southampton Road and they do not feel visibility is good enough.

The council’s lawyer, David Pearce, said the site is in open countryside and that heritage assets such as listed buildings should be protected. He also said the council is finding new pitches for Gypsies and travellers through its development plan but there is no immediate need for a site on this scale.

The decision on whether or not the application will be granted rests with planning inspector Richard Clegg.