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North Yorkshire Council faces criticism over unlawful Traveller sites

Summarised from 3 outlets · 8 reports · Updated 12 Nov, 16:29 · Archive

North Yorkshire Council has been accused of failing to prevent multiple unlawful Traveller sites from being established.

North Yorkshire Council has been accused of failing to prevent unlawful Traveller sites being established despite receiving advance warnings that land was about to be occupied. Councillor Tim Grogan, who represents the Monk Fryston and South Milford division, has submitted a motion to the full council meeting calling for urgent changes to how the authority responds when land is occupied and developed without planning permission.

The motion follows the creation of a Traveller site on a four-acre paddock at Betteras Hill Road, Hillam, near Selby, on 11 September. According to Cllr Grogan, a convoy of trucks and industrial machinery carrying building materials, septic tanks and large quantities of hardcore arrived at the site at 4.44pm that Friday. He described the operation as having "a cold, mechanical synchronisation akin to an operation of military professionalism". The council says legal advice indicated there were insufficient grounds to seek a pre-emptive injunction, a decision Cllr Grogan described as highly frustrating.

Cllr Grogan's motion, seconded by Conservative councillor Andrew Lee, calls for an out-of-hours planning enforcement service so officers can respond quickly to similar incidents. It also seeks urgent allocation of suitable land for Travellers and a policy to speed up retrospective planning applications where sites have been substantially altered without permission. Cllr Grogan is also calling for the council to lobby the Government for new police powers, including the ability to impose a 72-hour emergency stop on unauthorised development. He said the incident followed similar developments at Lumby and Biggin, also in North Yorkshire.

Meanwhile, a planning appeal hearing is scheduled for 24 November at Miller's Meadow near Richmond, where James Miller is appealing against an enforcement notice issued in August requiring the removal of caravans, hardstanding and other structures. The council says work continued at the site despite enforcement action. However, the authority has acknowledged it cannot demonstrate a five-year supply of Traveller sites in the former Richmondshire district, a factor it accepts weighs significantly in favour of the development. Mr Miller and his family moved onto the site earlier this year and argue there is no suitable alternative accommodation available for them in North Yorkshire.

The council is also preparing to instruct lawyers after an inspection on 20 October found that 21 caravans remained at Bridge House, on Oxmoor Lane near Biggin, despite the expiry of enforcement notices. Sir Alec Shelbrooke, MP for Wetherby and Easingwold, has been pursuing concerns raised by residents about alleged breaches of planning control at the site, which has been the subject of a long-running dispute involving enforcement action and several appeals.

North Yorkshire Council faces criticism over unlawful Traveller sites
Image: The Press (York)

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In this story: North Yorkshire Council · Tim Grogan · Hillam · Selby · Richmond · James Miller · Alec Shelbrooke · Biggin

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