Gypsy site plans are turned down

Plans for a permanent Gypsy encampment on Warwickshire green belt land have been turned down by councillors - despite being recommended by officers.

Families had wanted to build nine permanent caravan pitches near the A46 junction of Kings Lane, Snitterfield.

However, members of Stratford-upon-Avon District Council's planning committee said the proposal would break green belt policy.

The council had received more than 100 complaints about the proposals.

People living near the site feared it would mean the loss of agricultural land and a rise in traffic.

'Very few'

However, the families who put in the application said they wanted a permanent site in order to allow their children to settle into a local school.

Maggie Smith Bendall, of the Romany Gypsy Advisory Group, previously said there were "very few" council-run travellers' sites.

In a report that went to the meeting, council officers had accepted complaints that the site, which would have also included areas for car parking and sewage works, would be based on green belt land.

However, they said that in special circumstances the land could be built on.