Gypsy family told to move on

3:06pm Monday 29th September 2008

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A GYPSY family living on the edge of Leigh Sinton has been told to leave their site by Malvern Hills District Council.

The family lost a planning appeal in against the council’s refusal to grant them retrospective planning permission to liove on the site.

The planning inspector who conducted the appeal agreed with the council's assessment that access to the site from the A4103 Hereford to Worcester road has restricted visibility and is unsafe.

Since losing the appeal, the family has had more than nine months to find an alternative site, but has shown no sign of leaving.

Now, MHDC has issued an enforcement notice requiring them to move on within the next 12 months.

Roger Hall-Jones, portfolio holder for planning services, said “This was a complicated case. The council and then the planning inspector had to balance the needs of this family against the safety of those travelling along the Hereford to Worcester road. It is a terribly unfortunate situation for this family, but the access is simply not safe enough and so they must find somewhere else to live”.

The family is entitled to appeal against the notice but as a planning inspector has already decided that access onto the main road is unsafe, and the council has already given the family time to comply with the notice, grounds for an appeal are very limited.

Duncan Rudge, development control manager, said: “Breaches of planning controls cannot be tolerated. Safeguarding highway safety is very important and when appeals are dismissed this Council will pursue the issue for as long as it takes to achieve a satisfactory conclusion.”