Councillors’ defiance over Travellers’ site could cost taxpayers - Berkshire

From newburytoday.co.uk

TAXPAYERS could end up footing the bill for a costly planning appeal after councillors defied their own officers and rejected plans for a Travellers’ site in Beenham.

That was the warning this week from the agent for the applicant, who taunted “startled rabbit” councillors, stating: “Their enthusiasm for making the taxpayer pick up a big bill is exemplary.”

A meeting of West Berkshire Council’s eastern area planning committee last Wednesday, November 7, voted unanimously to refuse the application.

However members’ own planning officers had recommended approval for “one Gypsy pitch together with the formation of additional hard standing and utility / dayroom ancillary to that land” adjacent the Olde Forge House in Bath Road (pictured).

And during the debate, planning officer David Pearson implored councillors not to refuse permission on grounds of flood risk, warning: “There’s a high risk of costs being awarded against us on appeal if you go down that route. Our engineers are satisfied with the situation.”

He also pointed out that the Government insisted on positive discrimination for Travellers in such circumstances.

A spokesman for the applicant’s agent Green Planning Solutions, Hugh Jackson, warned the meeting: “I strongly recommend you follow the advice of your planning officers to avoid a costly appeal. And our success rate on appeal is over 90 per cent.”

Nevertheless members unanimously voted to refuse the application on the ground of flood risk, the argument that alternative pitches exist and the negative impact on the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and immediate neighbours and the fact it was not socially, environmentally or economically sustainable.

The meeting had been packed with residents opposed to the application.

Hundreds had opposed it, with some fearing “another Dale Farm” – a reference to the illegal Essex site which housed around 1,000 Travellers until it was finally closed amid violence and arrests following a decade-long legal battle.

Applicant Boysie Biddle has retained Green Planning Solutions as agents and spokesman Matthew Green said this week: “We will be discussing this with our client and I anticipate an appeal relatively quickly.

“The councillors are obviously keen to pay some very large bills; they’ve indicated many reasons for refusal so I may have to call upon several experts. We win more than 90 per cent of appeals and costs – awarded when someone has acted unreasonably – are given in our favour in 40 per cent of cases.”

He added: “The reason the rate is so high is because we deal with a lot of Gypsy sites and the moment councillors hear that word they act like startled rabbits, lose all sense of common sense and proportion and invent silly reasons for refusal which can’t be sustained on appeal.”

Such costs can range from £4,000 to £40,000, said Mr Green.