Application for Gypsies’ and travellers’ site near the A1 and Valley Lane, Long Bennington

An area of farmland could be used as a caravan site for Gypsies and travellers.

The 13 proposed pitches at Long Bennington would sit next to the junction of the A1 and Valley Lane, west of the village.

The applicant, who has submitted the ‘change of land use’ application to South Kesteven District Council through an agent, already lives at the site.

If their application is successful, each of the 13 pitches would cater for a caravan and a mobile building. Each plot would also provide space for two cars.

The two-hectare site is currently designated as agricultural land, and so members of the council would need to allow it to be designated for its new use.

An application in early 2021, to locate a mobile home and a caravan occupied by a tree surgeon and his family, was met with opposition from people living nearby. They had said they were upset that the site seemed to have been occupied before the application was granted.

The application was then refused on the grounds that it was too close to a maggot farm - Bennington Bait - which caused bad odours, and noise from the A1.

At the time, Coun Robert Reid (Con - Bourne and Thurlby) proposed the planning committee members refuse the application on grounds that living conditions had not been ‘quantified as being suitable, in particular for children’.

Grantham Independent Coun Ian Selby opposed this, saying: “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."

The latest application reference number is S23/1616. The plan will be considered by the council planning committee in the new year.