Retrospective plans for traveller caravan park in Cranfield refused by council

Applicant Patrick Stokes and family submitted proposals for a change of use of land at Four Acres in Astwood Road from agricultural to the residential caravan park, with eight pitches, cycle storage and other infrastructure.

Each pitch would consist of a static caravan, a touring caravan and parking, explained the application form. There would be 12 parking spaces added to the current four.

The 8.988sqm site is a former agricultural yard linked to a nearby farm and appears to have been used to rear poultry, with sheds and a static caravan remaining.

“The applicant was invited to withdraw the plans to seek pre-application advice before any re-submission, but didn’t agree to this,” according to CBC’s service director development and economy Andrew Davie.

In the notice of refusal of planning permission, he said: “The proposed development would be sited outside of a designated settlement envelope and would represent an unsustainable and harmful intrusion into the countryside.

“An increased reliance on vehicles to access everyday services and facilities would result in harm to the character and appearance of the rural area.

“Insufficient information has been provided to accurately assess how the site is serviced and whether there’s adequate on-site turning available to prevent vehicles reversing on to the highway.

“There’s also not enough detail provided to show the planned development is capable of providing net gains in biodiversity.”

The application form suggested biodiversity net gain fails to apply as “the works have been undertaken with vegetation removed and hardstanding created”.

The applicants are members of the Irish traveller community, with a long line of ancestral tradition of leading a nomadic and traditional traveller lifestyle, said a planning statement from White Planning and Enforcement.

“There’s an open investigation as some works have taken place and the families having moved on to the site. But the council is monitoring the situation and awaiting this planning application seeking to regularise matters to be submitted.

“Although situated beyond the settlement of Cranfield, the national guidance doesn’t rule out countryside locations for gypsy and traveller sites. It suggests the locating of sites in ‘open countryside’ should be very strictly limited, but crucially not excluded.

“CBC publicly accept it’s unable currently to provide a five-year supply of sites, with a resulting presumption in favour of sustainable development. Typically the sites available and affordable for private owner gipsy and traveller sites are located outside the settlement boundary and away from towns and villages.

“Located on the south side of Astwood Road, the site is largely screened from public view by the established mature trees and hedgerows. Described as being rurally situated, it’s expected that a higher degree of reliance upon the use of private vehicles is more likely and acceptable.

“On balance, it’s considered this change of use won’t result in a harmful impact on the character and appearance of Astwood Road,” added the statement. “There’s an overriding public interest in securing lawful plots and pitches to provide settled bases to the travellers, so they don’t turn to an illegal roadside existence.”