A piece of land in Pinhoe has been identified as suitable for a gypsy and traveller site by East Devon planning chiefs.
Ash Piggery, in the Tithebarn area near to the district’s border with Exeter, could accommodate around 15 pitches, writes Local Democracy Reporter Bradley Gerrard.
East Devon District Council’s (EDDC) Strategic Planning Committee is drafting the authority’s Local Plan – outlining where housing and employment land should go up to 2040.
The committee’s decision on the nearly-three-and-a-half-acre plot off Langaton Lane recognises it is suitable to accommodate gypsies and travellers, but is not planning permission for a specific scheme.
Councillors heard a number of objections over the proposed allocation – including from the nearby 1st Pinhoe Scout Group.
However, officers said the authority needed to show it is meeting the needs of gypsy and traveller communities.
Concerns highlighted included the site’s proximity to the M5 and railway line being detrimental to those using the site and congestion fears for Langaton Lane; a cul-de-sac.
Angie Hurran, who is chief officer at Broadclyst Parish Council, said: “It is our duty to ensure we are not providing environments that are detrimental to wellbeing by allocating a site that has been deemed unsuitable for typical residential development due to noise levels, as we risk treating this community inequitably, and they deserve the same standards of any other group.”
But council officers noted that existing developments were closer to the M5 than the proposed site. They added that, because the plot is lower than the road, noise levels would be mitigated.
Councillor Mike Howe, who represents the Clyst Valley, raised the prospect of delaying a decision to allow time for the council’s environmental health team to prepare a report. He asked whether EDDC had money to buy the site so that it could manage it.
But committee chair Cllr Todd Olive, ward member for Whimple and Rockbeare, dismissed concerns about noise given existing developments near the railway line and the M5.
“To be brutally honest, I am minded to propose this site for allocation,” he said.
Ed Freeman, the council’s assistant director of planning strategy, said while other sites had been identified, such as in the Cranbrook expansion area and potentially at a new settlement planned near Farringdon, these were unlikely to become reality soon.
“What makes me nervous is that those options are some years away and we need to show we are phasing provision over the period of the local plan,” he added.
“This site helps meet short-term need, and while we can make our case that we are meeting the needs without it, we have a much stronger case with this site in the mix.”
Planning officer Claire Rodway added that it was her team’s understanding that the site would probably be used by ‘settled’ travelling families.
“There is a gypsy and traveller site at Broadclyst where a small handful of very long-term residents live, yet most people in Broadclyst wouldn’t know it existed,” she said.
“Some of the demand [for Ash Piggery]is because we have some families in the Broasdclyst site that are overcrowded so we think it would occupied by more local families.”
Councillors voted in favour of allocating the site as a gypsy and traveller site, but with no formal planning application yet.
