Takeley Gypsy's bid for eight static caravans - Essex

From the Herts and Essex Observer

A GYPSY granted planning permission to site caravans at his Takeley home wants Uttlesford District Council to allow all eight to be mobile homes.

When the authority gave Tommy Jones permission to house his extended family at his property in The Street, it stipulated only two of the residential units should be static.

In his latest bid for planning permission, Mr Smith’s agent, Stephen Hayhurst, says: “This logically means that the six other caravans may only be ‘tourers’.

“This is plainly illogical and is completely at odds with the applicant’s request to station either eight static caravans or mobile homes falling within the statutory definition.

“My client has no objection to the condition being further varied, if you so wish, so as to permit the possibility of some touring caravans being brought on to the site in the future in addition to the eight static units, but this is not part of his proposal.”

When Mr Smith won permission in July this year, he gave the council details of 21 adults and five children he hoped to accommodate.

A supporting statement said: “The intended occupants are traditional English Gypsies, all struggling in inadequate accommodation and deserving of an opportunity to live a more settled lifestyle amongst their own extended family in a pleasant setting with reasonable access to good quality services and facilities.”

The application prompted a petition and dozens of letters of complaints from villagers as well as objections from the parish council.

The latest bid has also prompted concerns. A spokesman for neighbouring Kearsley Airways Ltd rapped the council for its “scant regard” for the “myriad of objections” submitted against the original scheme and said it was “strongly objecting” again.

He said: “Several independent examinations of the original proposal were conducted and submitted, all of which recommended that the proposal was detrimental to all aspects of the surrounding area. These were completely ignored.

“Kearsley Airways Ltd maintain that with the introduction of a Traveller site with fixed or otherwise accommodation in the locations indicated is a mistake and the potential risk to public safety on the B1256 will be significantly increased.”