Council to object to proposed Surrey traveller site
A district council is set to oppose a bid for the county’s first short-stay Traveller site.
Tandridge District Council’s planning committee will meet next week and members will vote on whether or not to object to the plans, as is the officers’ recommendation.
The proposed site, which is next to the existing Pendell Camp Traveller site between Merstham and Bletchingley, is on land owned by Surrey County Council which is putting forward the application.
Tandridge District Council documents said the Merstham Road site would be an inappropriate development in the green belt, in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and Area of Great Landscape Value.
Concerns were also raised about the suitability of the site, with its proximity to the M23 and the impact on occupants of noise from the motorway.
Surrey County Council is consulting on the application and so will also look at considerations such as highways, flooding and biodiversity.
The officers’ report said that although it was a transit site, where no occupants would stay for longer than four weeks, there would be permanent buildings on the site as well as caravans and buildings.
It continued: “For all intents and purposes it has the character and appearance of a permanent site and should be treated as such when being considered against relevant national and development plan policies. The development is therefore inappropriate development in the green belt.”
Bletchingley Parish Council strongly objects to the application based on the location in the greenbelt, and raised questions about what the costs would be for running the site, and who would be responsible for them.
The parish council also raised concerns that the residents at the existing site had not been consulted.
Other objections received, which had been edited in council documents to “remove any unacceptable references to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities”, included the inappropriateness of putting a temporary site next to a permanent traveller site.
They also highlighted a lack of pavements and street lighting in the area making it an unsuitable location, and a threat to wildlife in the area including badgers and finches.
Chelsham & Farleigh Parish Council fully supports the application.
Between 2018 and 2020, Surrey Police recorded 483 unauthorised encampments across the county on private and council-owned land.
The aim of the transit site, according to Surrey Police, is to reduce the number of unauthorised encampments.
The planning committee will meet to discuss the planning application on Thursday 13 January.