Row between traveller family and Berkshire council over land

West Berkshire Council issued the notice after the area was gravelled over and caravans and mobile homes moved in during a bank holiday weekend in June

An Irish traveller family trying to set up home on a patch of land and a council that wants it to leave has sparked a row.

The Doherty family has appealed an enforcement notice it received from West Berkshire District Council after it moved onto the site near Enborne.

The family said it wanted to move to the village to send its children to school.

The appeal will be determined at an inquiry of the Planning Inspectorate.

The council issued the notice after the area was gravelled over and caravans and mobile homes moved in during a bank holiday weekend in June, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

The family has since applied for planning permission to change the use of the land, which is currently labelled as an equestrian property, into a mixed residential and equestrian property.

'Illegal'

But West Berkshire Council, after objections from some locals, pinned an enforcement notice to the fence, LDRS reported.

It said the erection of fences, laying of hard standing, installation of above ground pipes, a subterranean cesspit, soakaways, tanks, chambers and water tap standpipe was not legal.

The council also said the travellers had to move on and removed all the works and the fences.

The land was previously unused waste land, which the applicant, Charlie Doherty, had removed debris from, fenced, resurfaced and put up new stables and gates on.

The appeal against the enforcement notice is on the grounds that planning permission should be granted, and that the enforcement is excessive, with insufficient time to comply.

A planning application to change the use of the site is now lodged with the council, which makes note of the lack of available traveller pitches in West Berkshire.

Friends, Families and Travellers has been approached for comment.