A CONTROVERSIAL planning application to allow a traveller family to remain on a site near Powick they have occupied on an intermittent basis for the past three years has been deferred.

A meeting of Malvern Hills District Council’s Northern Area Development Management Committee last night heard the family had been granted a temporary three-year consent to occupy the site in Mountain View, Bastonford, but this had since expired.

Members heard nine letters of objection to the plans had been received, citing concerns around the harm to the landscape, that it would set a precedent for similar sites in the area and an impact on road safety.

But the meeting also heard the extended family – 10 adults and 11 children – also occupy two other sites elsewhere in the country and spend the majority of their time in Peterborough.

After expressing uncertainty around some elements of the application, such as how many, if any, of the children would be attending schools in the area, members voted unanimously to defer the application to a future meeting.