Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles to rule on ‘Travellers’ site’ in Welwyn - Hertfordshire

From the Welwyn Hatfield Times

A LONG-RUNNING row over a ‘Gypsy site’ in Welwyn will be settled by Secretary of State Eric Pickles, after a planning inquiry.

The appeal was against a ruling by Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council which refused permission for the retention of a ‘Gypsy site’ adjacent to 17 The Avenue, Welwyn, with five residential caravans, five utility blocks with associated parking and hard-standing, on January 11 this year.

The inquiry, heard by Planning Inspector Nicholas Freeman, related to the appeal against the decision and against two enforcement notices served by the council to remove the site from the land, which is inside the Green Belt.

The controversial case also involved allegations that Irish Traveller Larry Rooney and his wife, had invoked the brutal treatment of Roma Gypsies during the Holocaust in a plea to allow the site to remain, as justification to “flout council planning laws”.

One objector wrote: “What this has to do with Mr Rooney is lost on me because to my certain knowledge Travellers of Irish heritage were not subjected to racial persecution by the Nazis.

“At least to no greater extent than anyone else living and remaining in the United Kingdom and neutral Ireland during World War Two.”

It was also claimed that Mr Rooney and his family had faced isolation by the community in Welwyn and was “forced to turn inward”.

But other residents said this was not the case as the family were welcomed into the Avenue Road Association – a residents’ forum for local issues and concerns.

In a statement Kathleen Rooney, the appellant’s wife, insisted the site was simply for family members and not for the use of other Gypsies or Travellers.

She added: “It is important to us that we can live as a large extended family. This is how we have always lived.

“This is part of our way of life and it is what we are used to.

“Now that myself and my husband Larry do not have good health we appreciate having our family here with us.”

She said the development was also important so that younger relatives, who attend Oaklands Primary School, while not away travelling, can be “more settled” and get an education.

Mr Freeman will make his report to Eric Pickles MP later this month.