Plans to change land near Grantham into travellers' site refused
A planning application to change the use of land to a travellers' site was refused at an SKDC planning meeting on Wednesday.
The proposal concerned land owned by the applicant, situated to the north of Bennington Bait, a maggot farm, on Valley Lane, Long Bennington.
Four of the 11 councillors present voted in favour of refusal to carry the motion, voicing concerns over the site's suitability as a site to live on, with a maggot farm and the A1 close by causing odour and noise concerns.
The site is currently under unauthorised occupation by the owner, with two caravans, a commercial vehicle and a temporary portable toilet on site.
Planning officer, Phil Jordan recommended a temporary three year personal permission to be granted, subject to conditions.
Phil said: "We haven’t got any alternative accommodation, so we have to make an assessment and whilst those details around noise and odour haven’t been addressed through the submission, we have to accept that we haven’t got any alternatives that we can offer at this moment in time, so that’s where the recommendation for a temporary permission has come from."
A welfare assessment carried out by the council confirmed that the site has electricity, but water and drainage have yet to be provided. However, there would be means to provide and connect to these services had the planning permission been granted.
Councillor Paul Wood pointed out that an almost identical application had been submitted by the same applicant for the same land in 2019 and was refused, stating that "very little" had changed since the original refusal.
He said: “The planning officer’s report states that insufficient information has been provided and I would ask that this information is provided before permission is given.
“It can’t be good practice to allow occupation of the site for residents to live before sufficient details are provided to ensure suitable living conditions.
"In conclusion, I would ask the committee to refuse the application, because the site is not suitable for residential accommodation, because the lack of details to determine suitable living conditions.”
Stephen Pearson, of Long Bennington Parish Council, said: “The MHCLG (Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government) good practice guide for the design of travellers sites states that key requirements include safety, visual safety, acoustic privacy and scope for integration with the local community, and this application falls on all counts.
“I’m afraid, and there’s no antipathy about the residents, it’s a large site and there’s a distinct risk of two caravans becoming more.”
Coun Robert Reid proposed a motion to refuse on grounds that living conditions had not been "quantified as being suitable in particular for children/minors."
This motion was supported by Coun Penny Milnes, Coun David Bellamy and Coun Harrish Bisnauthsing.
Six councillors abstained, while Coun Ian Selby voted against the motion. He said: “The site in question, it may not be acceptable to a lot of people. A lot of people might not want to live there, but at the end of the day, the applicant doesn’t have an issue with wanting to live there."
