Shock that Shoreham field could be turned over to Travellers - Kent

From the Sevenoaks Chronicle

SHOREHAM residents have been rocked by suggestions that a Traveller community could be established in a nearby farmer’s field.

The parish council says it had no idea the village would feature in a draft consultation document looking at site provision for Gypsies.

And it claims it only found out when Otford and Shoreham district councillor John Edwards-Winser spotted it in a round-robin e-mail from Sevenoaks planning chiefs on Monday evening.

The parish’s vice-chairman, Richard Inniss, said: “We’re supposed to live in an age of localism – that means parish councils should be told about these things up-front; we shouldn’t have to hunt for them in a pile of paperwork.”

The district council’s controversial thinking revolves around centres on land at Timberden Farm – 2.71 hectares owned by the local authority. Although it is a field currently used for growing crops and sits in both the green belt and the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Sevenoaks planners say its proximity to the southern end of the village – and amenities like a school, shop, railway station and public houses – makes it a candidate for an encampment.

Mr Inniss said: “Last year the district council wanted to develop the field into social housing, now it’s a possible Traveller site. It’s like they can’t think what to do with it next.”