A DECISION looms on a controversial bid for land in Hagley to be converted to be used as a caravan site for five traveller pitches.
Bromsgrove District Council’s planning committee is set to meet on Monday (May 11) to decide whether land at Wassell Grove Lane, Hagley, will be able to be used as a site for the traveller pitches.
The application, if accepted, would include the laying of hardstanding and the construction of a 1.8m timber fence.
Planning officers have recommended that full planning permission be refused.
The five pitches on the application site are currently occupied by touring caravans.
However, permission is sought for both mobile homes and touring caravans, as well as small utility rooms on each pitch.
Car parking and amenity spaces are also proposed to serve each pitch.
Councillor Ruth Lambert has requested the application be considered by the planning committee rather than being determined under delegated power, due to the public interest and the large number of comments from residents.
In total, 83 comments have been received by the council, with all of them being objections.
Worries include the narrowness of the road, potential additional traffic, the impact on pedestrians, including children, using the road, the lack of footpaths or street lighting and claims that the site access is dangerous.
Those against the development also feel the Green Belt site should be protected, the large area of hardstanding proposed is unnecessary, and the lack of local amenities near the site.
The conservation officer has also claimed the development does detract from the setting of the nearby Grade II listed Wassell Grove Farmhouse.
The Bromsgrove district gypsy and traveller and travelling showperson accommodation assessment shows between 2024/25 and 2041/42, there is a need for 37 additional Gypsy and Traveller pitches across the district.
Of this need, 17 pitches are needed in the first five years, of which this development, if approved, would contribute five pitches.
Planning documents add that it is evident that there is an identified need for additional pitches in the next five-year period, and that the council cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of deliverable sites.
Documents also consider the site to be within land that is grey belt, land in the green belt comprising previously developed land or a plot that does not strongly contribute to any purpose.
In a planning statement, the applicants claim the site is suitable through its reasonable proximity to services and facilities and should be accepted, in part, due to the lack of suitable alternative sites for the occupants of the site and a lack of any real long-lasting landscape harm.
The meeting will take place from 6pm on Monday.
Visit youtube.com/live/LqW-9FwdStc to watch the meeting.
