Weather
Travellers get three-year stay of execution (From Brentwood Weekly News)
Get involved: send your pictures, video, news and views by texting BWNNEWS to 80360 or email us »
Travellers get three-year stay of execution
4:21pm Thursday 25th June 2009
TRAVELLERS living on green belt land in Navestock have been given permission to stay where they are – for the next three years at least.
Planning bosses from Brentwood Council said the family living on small site north of Curtis Mill Lane can stay.
The council said it had little choice in the matter and residents and parish councillors said the move proves the council is being beaten by travellers.
Adrian Enkel, vice-chairman of Navestock Parish Council, said: “It just proves Brentwood has already lost its authority.
“I don’t think it has any idea what this decision means.
“The decision was what we expected because of the council’s head-in-the-ground approach to dealing with the travellers.
“They’re using a flawed strategy which I can’t see will address the current problem sufficiently or give a way forward.”
A family of nine has been living at the site for six years.
The family owns the land and has divided it into three plots, each with a caravan, fenced off with timber fencing and a gate and paved area at the front There are also stables, sheds, dog kennels and a garage.
When the travellers first set up on the land, Brentwood Council issued enforcement notices, but no action was taken.
However, now the council has done a u-turn and granted them a three year period of grace, provided no more travellers move in.
The turnaround comes after the council was told by the Government it had to provide 15 permanent traveller pitches by 2011 on five patches – the Curtis Mill Lane site was named as one of the prospective five sites.
Navestock already has a number of traveller sites and a worker at nearby Priors golf club, in Horseman Side, said the decision was bad news for the club.
He said: “We have problems with travellers damaging the greens at night, leaving litter and fishing without permission in our ponds. They seem to be immune to the law.”
Cllr Linda Golding, chairman of the planning committee, said: “The fact that in similar cases within the borough, inspectors have granted permission for anything between three and five years, left us with little option other than to grant temporary permission or risk a decision being overturned, with substantial costs against the council.”
