News

Council to consider making Newark traveller site permanent despite flood concerns

By Latifa Yedroudj, Junior Local Democracy Reporter

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Plans to make a temporary gypsy and traveller site in Newark a permanent fixture is set to be considered by the council despite flood concerns.

Mrs D & W Bower submitted a planning application to transform the former abattoir site at Park View Caravan Park, along Tolney Lane in Newark-on-Trent, into a permanent gypsy and traveller caravan site.

The plans were submitted on January 27 this year, and will be considered by a council committee on Thursday (June 5).

The site spans about 0.6 hectares – equivalent to the size of a football pitch.

There is a single storey building on the land which used to be an abattoir.

It is currently being used as a temporary gypsy and traveller caravan site for up to 15 caravans.

Temporary permission was granted in 2018 to allow travellers to stay on the site due to “immediate accommodation needs”.

This temporary permission ended in 2021.

Another application was submitted in 2020 to make the traveller site permanent, but this was rejected in April 2021 due to flood risks as it lies within a flood zone.

Mrs Bower submitted another application in November 2021 to renew the temporary status – it was approved in March 2022.

The latest application will be considered by the planning committee on Thursday, June 5.

It proposes to remove all temporary conditions and make it a permanent gypsy and traveller caravan site.

However, the Environment Agency and Newark Town Council objected to the plans due to the flood risks at the site.

The Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) identified 169 pitches needed for gypsy and traveller sites across the district between 2019 to 2034.

They say there is a “significant unmet need for traveller accommodation”, and the council “cannot currently identify sufficient land to meet” land supply.

The council says it “lacks sufficient identifiable and deliverable sites”, and that there is an urgent need to find land.

The Labour-run authority recommends a short-term approval of the site for up to a year.

This will be considered once The Exceptions Test is passed and the applicant details confirms they meet the planning criteria, documents say.

The Exceptions Test is a two-part check used to see if building on land that’s at a high-risk flood zone can still go ahead — even though it normally wouldn’t be allowed.

Documents read: “Whilst there are factors which weigh heavily in the favour of granting consent these would fall short of outweighing the significant flood risk concerns, to the extent that the granting of permanent consent would currently be justified – even with paragraph 11 d) of the NPPF engaged.

“However, I would raise no objection to a further short term temporary consent of up to a year, in order to allow the site allocation process to conclude and provide the applicants with certainty over that period.

“Though we would need to be in the position where the Exceptions Test had been fully passed, and the necessary details for the permission to be made personal provided.

“To be acceptable these individuals would need to meet the definition for planning purposes of Gypsy and Travellers provided in Annex 1 to the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites.”