Hamlet near Bath faces battle over Gypsy and Traveller site

From the Western Daily Press

A hamlet near Bath is fighting a proposal that an old colliery contaminated by arsenic should be converted into an official Gypsy and Traveller site which could more than double the size of its community.

The owner put forward the land, which is in the Green Belt, after the local council appealed for suggestions for what would be the first official Traveller site in Bath and North East Somerset.

The land near a cluster of homes at Stanton Wick near Bath, stands above old mineshafts and is home to protected bats and accessed by a single track lane. Locals say it is totally unsuitable on planning grounds.

They were horrified when it was picked from a list of 23 potential sites to join a shortlist of six on which the council will undertake an eight-week consultation.

And they are appealing to as many people as possible to have their say once the consultation starts on Wednesday.

The land is proposed as suitable for up to 15 permanent pitches and five temporary pitches.

Stanton Wick Action Group chairman Clarke Osborne insists that its opposition is focused solely on planning issues but the question of designating official sites for travellers in Bath and North East Somerset has proved highly political with the current Liberal Democrat administration at the council accusing its Conservative predecessors of failing to grasp the nettle, and Conservatives saying out-of-date statistics on need are being used and more work needs to be done.

The council’s scrutiny panel called for statistics to be reassessed but did not call for the decision to be formally called in and yesterday councillor Tim Ball, Cabinet member for Homes and Planning, said the consultation would go ahead.

“We understand that public feeling is high. People have made lots of sensible remarks to us. We will look at contamination issues, the protection of bats, and transport, and everything, and we will come back and report in September on all the sites,” he said.

The list will then be reviewed and put out to further consultation with any changes or omissions before a final decision on the sites proposed in December.

The public will have a further chance to put their views when a planning inspector considers the proposals. His recommendations are likely to go to the council next March.

Conservative councillor Malcolm Hanney, a member of scrutiny panel, said: “We feel it is quite ridiculous that the site is on the list, given that it is Green Belt, past planning decisions, contamination and lack of local amenities.”

Mr Ball said one of the reasons the site is so far seen as having potential is that it is the only one which is proposed for both permanent and transient occupation.

"If anybody knows of any sites that should be put forward we want them to get in touch,” he said. “It is always better to use something that is right rather than something that is slightly wrong."