Calcutt travellers' site made permanent by Wiltshire Council

Travellers who moved illegally on to land in Wiltshire have been told they can stay.

Permanent permission for 14 residential Gypsy pitches at Calcutt near Cricklade has been granted by Wiltshire Council.

The plans were opposed by Cricklade Town Council, which was concerned about "the possible over-supply of sites in north Wiltshire".

But Wiltshire Council said the land met "an established and identified need for Gypsy site provision in the area".

Travellers moved unlawfully on to the site in May 2009, but in June 2010 were granted temporary permission to stay until 2012.

Now permission to make the site permanent has been granted on condition that a flood evacuation plan and a landscaping scheme are submitted within three months.

Planning permission conditions also specify that "no commercial activity or use, including the storage of materials and waste, shall be carried out on the site" and "the site shall not be permanently occupied by persons other than Gypsies and travellers."

Over the next three years nearly £3.5m of government funding will be spent on creating 20 new pitches and improving 40 existing pitches in the county.

Calcutt Park, according to the authority, will "make a significant contribution to the requirement for available and deliverable sites to 2011, all but satisfying the need by one pitch for the 2011 period".