A furious row has erupted after a traveller family won the right to turn a disused farm into a gypsy camp despite 200 objections from locals.
Debbie Morris, who runs Beckingham Parish Council in Nottinghamshire, called the decision by Bassetlaw District Council ‘anti-democratic’.
She said: ‘Normally five objections to a planning matter is considered a red flag.
“We have just over 600 properties in this village and there were 203 objections but it counted for nothing. ‘We all like to believe we live in a democratic society but when it comes to planning, they don’t seem bothered by what the village wants. Even if every house had objected, they would still have passed it.”
Romany Gypsy Barry Rodgers, 59, who owns the land, said it was to simply provide a home for himself, his son, daughter-in-law and five grandchildren. Mr Rodgers told MailOnline: “I have brought my kids up with morals and the locals will soon see that we are not there to cause a crime wave.
“The idea to convert a former strawberry field next to a dual road into a gypsy camp for two stationary and two mobile caravans was at the core of the dispute. Petitions circulated the village, warning that this was not an appropriate location for human habitation and that it just wouldn’t stop at four caravans, more would come.
The Parish Council that Mrs Morris heads listed 12 objections to the development including traffic access, noise, smell and pollution, as well as flooding and a rise in crime.
On Wednesday night, however, two members of the planning committee rejected the idea, while one member abstained. Six members supported the plan.
One 69-year-old woman, who has lived 28 years in the village, said: ‘I did object. We just think it is not a suitable place for a traveller site.
‘We think there will be a lot of crime and people are worried about that. I would not trust them to stick to the plans and I think they will be disruptive to the village school with all their coming and going.’
However, Mr Rodgers, who has lived in the area all his life, insists he has done everything legally.
‘I have owned the land for years but I have not done anything to move on before the permission was obtained,’ he said. ‘I have done it all by the book.
‘I have been approached by six traveller families wanting to buy the land off me and move onto it without proper permission but I don’t want that kind of disruption for the village. I just want somewhere my grandkids can call home.’
In Lincolnshire, Beckingham is a tidy village near Gainsborough that has a post office, a village green, and a church dating back to the thirteenth century.
Like everyone else, they should pay council tax if they choose to reside there. Living a free life does not exist, although some do choose to pay their taxes to get certain services, and he does own the land. He bought it fair and square so is entitled to do with it what he wants to.
The term ‘traveller’ implies that they travel. So why do they want to live in static caravans? Perhaps if the travellers are setting up camp, honest taxpayers should stop paying their taxes—after all, what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 