Contentious plans for new permanent gipsy and traveller pitches in south Norfolk have taken a step forward after a list of nine potential sites was whittled down to two.
A report published today will reveal that land near an oil depot at Wymondham and an area of the Waveney Valley at Earsham, near Bungay, have been selected by officials at South Norfolk Council as prime encampment sites.
The recommendations by the district council’s gipsy and traveller working group comes after thousands of residents responded to an eight week public consultation.
Members of the local authority’s cabinet will be asked next week to officially endorse land at Stanfield Road, Wymondham, and at Old Harleston Road, Earsham, as sites to meet government guidelines to provide more traveller pitches in the district.
The council unveiled nine potential locations earlier this year after reviewing more than 80 greenfield and brownfield sites on the A11, A47, and A143/A1066 corridors to provide 28 permanent pitches by 2011.
Ronnie Hoare, chairman of the gipsy and traveller working group, said the more than 1,500 responses to
the public consultation had been “invaluable” in helping to assess the suitability of each site.
He added that the construction of an eight pitch site at Harford Bridge, near Norwich, by Broadland Housing Association, and the addition of five private pitches at Bawburgh and one at Easton meant that the district council only needed to find 14 more pitches to fulfil its quota.
Mr Hoare added that the proposed eight-pitch sites near Stanfield oil depot, Wymondham, and land north of Old Harleston Road, Earsham, had “less negatives” out of all of the other shortlisted areas.
“We have had a long consultation with exhibitions and public meetings and it is fair to say they have had an impact on our final recommendation to cabinet. The council is there to look after the interests of the district and this is undoubtedly in the public’s interests.”
“There is a legal requirement to provide these in the district and it is a very small fraction of the district. There are financial benefits if we get it right and the problem of unauthorised sites should be a thing of the past,” he said.
If approved by cabinet, the council will open another eight week public consultation before sending its proposals to a planning inspector.
The working group have discounted two potential sites at Ketteringham, off the A47, and a transit site near the Thickthorn roundabout. They also ruled out sites at Brockdish, near Diss, the coach depot at Old Harleston Road, Earsham, land at Station Road, Spooner Row, and Chepore Lane, Suton, near Wymondham.
Full story from EDP24.
