Land near Chelmsford earmarked for £600,000 Traveller site - Essex

From the Essex Chronicle

A GYPSY and Traveller site costing more than £600,000 will be constructed just a few miles from a major development planned for Chelmsford.

Plans for ten pitches on the parcel of land to the north of the city, at the junction of Drakes Lane and Boreham Road, were approved at a Chelmsford City Council cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The two-and-a-half acre site, costing up to £612,000, will sit about three miles from the planned Channels development of 750 homes, retail outlets, restaurants and cafes near Channels Golf Club.

Councillor Roy Whitehead, leader of Chelmsford City Council, told the meeting: "We have to provide these Traveller sites as we've been told to do so from the great edict from above.

"Tonight we just need to get agreement on decisions that revolve around permission already granted in 2012 (for the Channels development), and to choose between two sites of which Plot A seems the appropriate one of the two."

The pitches are part of an obligation to provide more accommodation for the ethnic minority.

The money to construct the pitches, which could include both mobile homes and touring caravans, will be provided by Countryside Zest, the developers behind a vast 3,600 homes extension in Greater Beaulieu.

Anil Bungar, a director at Countryside, said: "Gypsy and Traveller sites are an important component of Chelmsford City Council's obligation to provide a diverse range of housing for all needs.

"Countryside is pleased that the development of Beaulieu is able to provide funds which will assist in the delivery of this strategically planned site on land north of Channels and help the council fulfil one of the requirements of the North Chelmsford Area Action Plan."

That obligation is shared with fellow developer Bellway Homes, the firm which obtained outline planning permission in 2012 for the Channels development.

It will provide the area of land to host the dedicated Gypsy site, although it has said it doesn't "anticipate any impact" on its own development.

The council identified in 2008 a countywide need for more Traveller accommodation, and failure to meet this need could lead to the Government choosing its own sites.

The findings also discovered that the city's Traveller population "experience access barriers to education, healthcare and other local services".

The report added: "Future Gypsy and Traveller sites must have good access to these services to improve social well-being and inclusiveness."

As a result it was considered a further 20 pitches needed to be found in the city by 2016, limiting the individual size of sites to ten pitches in order to ensure family bonds were retained.