PLANS to build a travellers' site in a rural corner of north Essex are set to be rejected.

Elliot Furniss

PLANS to build a travellers' site in a rural corner of north Essex are set to be rejected.

The proposed site, in the small parish of Crockleford Heath, near Colchester, would provide a permanent home for 12 traveller families - a large proportion of the 15 plots that Tendring District Council is obliged to provide.

But at a meeting of the council's development control committee at Clacton's Princes Theatre next Wednesday planning officers will recommend it be turned down due to the “adverse visual impact” it would have.

A large crowd of local residents gathered near the site earlier this week to show their disapproval of the plan to members of the committee, who were carrying out a pre-meeting visit.

Ardleigh Parish Council has compiled a dossier listing reasons why the site is not appropriate for the proposed development while more than 270 representations have been made to the committee objecting to the plans, with only 44 in favour.

Elmstead and Great Bromley Parish Councils have also objected to the site, saying the surrounding roads are too “narrow and dangerous” to sustain increased traffic and that there is a “severe lack” of public facilities nearby.

In a report to the committee, the planning officer in the case said: “The acknowledged unmet need for gypsy and traveller pitches in the district is outweighed by the fact that the proposed development of the site would have more than a minimal adverse visual impact on the character and appearance of the surrounding rural area, in that it would, by virtue of its scale and layout, dominate its countryside setting, which would seriously erode the spacious, open character and visual appearance of the locality to the detriment of local amenity.”

The application was made by landowner William Banks, who lives in Clacton. His wife has written to the committee to respond to some of the objections raised by residents and organisations.

She promised that the site would be well looked after, warden-controlled at all times and have extra screening so that no neighbours would be overlooked.

She added: “I understand that it must be hard to recognise gypsy culture, but older travellers and younger ones are tired of the situation of being moved on all the time and want to settle down.

“Gypsy families do not require temporary pitches any more - they need permanent sites with permanent facilities, they are human after all.”