Gypsy and Traveller site approved on Pilning site

The authority needs an additional 61 Gypsy and Traveller pitches by 2032

A new Gypsy and Traveller pitch has been approved after councillors said their "hands are tied".

A meeting heard there was an informal proposal for land in Pilning, near Bristol to be used for extra-care housing for older people.

But officers recommended approving the space as a Gypsy and Traveller pitch, as the applicants have a child.

Principal planning officer David Stockdale said recent appeals placed a child's rights at the "highest level".

South Gloucestershire Council's Development Management Committee heard the local community was producing a neighbourhood plan that earmarked scrubland at the junction of Northwick Road and Bank Road, along with other land behind a GP surgery, for the extra-care housing.

But planning officers who recommended approving the proposed space for one mobile home, a touring caravan and a day room building with a kitchen and bathroom said the council was short of 61 Gypsy and Traveller pitches and that this, and the needs of the applicant's child, outweighed any harms.

The committee was told available sites for housing in the village were "severely constrained" because of the flood zone, railway line, motorways and the A403.

Pilning & Severn Beach Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group chairman Richard Edwards said: "If this [traveller pitch] is approved, the loss of land would make our plans unviable on what remains.

"The objectives of the neighbourhood plan will be severely inhibited."

Ward representative Simon Johnson (Lib Dem) said the community had welcomed Traveller sites in recent years "but the number of other sites within 50m (164 feet) of the proposed site are currently operating below capacity".

Cllr Tony Williams (Lib Dem, Severn Vale) said "I'm sorry, we don't have to accept it".

"To expect one parish to take the needs of the Traveller sites for the whole area is over the top."

'They would win on appeal'

Principal planning officer David Stockdale said: "The council is in a difficult position in terms of the provision of Gypsy and Traveller accommodation - we need an additional 61 pitches by 2032."

Cllr Mike Bell (Labour, Staple Hill & Mangotsfield) said: "I sympathise with the residents but our hands are tied.

"If it went to appeal, they would be likely to win the appeal and all appeals forever and ever."

Members voted 8-1 in favour.