Gypsy applicant will keep trying - South Worcestireshire

From the Malvern Gazette

APPLICANTS for a Gypsy site just outside Upton will keep on trying, district councillors were told this week.

Leonard Finney had applied to Malvern Hills District Council for permission to create a site with five pitches at Hillbee Farm off the A4104 Welland Road.

The site had been previously used as a Caravan Club site for five caravans, which needed no permission. But local residents strongly objected to the plan. Among their worries is the hazards caused by vehicles turning on and off the road, which many say is dangerously fast.

Another worry is there is no footpath or pavement and occupants would be at risk from traffic.

At Wednesday’s meeting of MHDC’s southern area development control committee, the applicant’s son, Ken Finney, said the site was needed for members of his family to live on and there had never been an accident in the years it had been used by touring caravans.

He said: “If this planning application is not passed, one will be passed in the future. We’re not going anywhere, we will be there for ever.”

Upton deputy mayor Paul Bennett spoke on the residents’ behalf, saying people living in nearby West Bank feared that up to 10 families could end up living on the site.

He said the town council’s own housing survey revealed there was no local need for a Travellers’ site near Upton, whatever the need elsewhere in the district.

Councillors voted 11-4 with two abstentions, to refuse the application, following officers’ recommendations that the proposed access would be dangerous and there is no safe walking route for occupants to get to nearby bus stops and other facilities.

After the meeting Coun Bennett said: “Mr Finney said they will keep trying to get permission.”