Caravan site plans for land next to rare salt marsh spark objections

Stafford Borough Council refused permission for a change of use of the land opposite Beech Tree Farm at London Road, Pasturefields, in November.

Planning officers said the proposals, which would have involved the siting of three mobile homes, three static caravans and three amenity blocks on the land near Hixon, would be “visually intrusive and at odds with the open rural character of the area.” they added that the development would be detrimental to the Trent and Mersey Canal Conservation Area.

The site is near the Pasturefields Salt Marsh, one of only two remaining natural inland salt marshes in the British Isles. It is home to plants usually found on coastal marshes and estuaries, as well as providing a habitat for birds such as snipes, lapwings and redshanks.

A fresh application has now been submitted to the borough council, proposing a change of use of the land to a residential caravan site for three gypsy families. Each would have one mobile home, one touring caravan a utility building and a stable block, car parking, foul drainage, landscaping and hardscaping are also proposed.

A planning statement submitted as part of the application said: “The caravan site has been set back away from both the A51 to the north and the canal to the south. Extensive landscaping, in the form of new hedgerows and woodland planting, would be carried out along the western and southern boundaries to screen the proposed development from public vantage points and help assimilate the caravan site into its semi-rural surroundings.”

It added that if the plans were approved the site would become home to three Romany Gypsy households who were all related to one another. One household does not currently have a site of their own and were having to stay on someone else’s caravan site in the Stafford area, while another currently lived in “unsuitable bricks and mortar accommodation and wants to live in a caravan site in accordance with his gypsy traditions.”

The statement said: “They have purchased the application site to make a caravan site of their own, where they live together as an extended family group for mutual help and support. (Applicant) John Smith is outgrowing the site where he currently lives in Stafford and needs a site where he can live with other members of his extended family.

“John Smith makes his living by carrying out property maintenance and repair work. He also regularly attends horse fairs and religious conventions when he is travelling during the summer for work.

“All three families are gypsies by ethnicity and travel for at least part of the year for an economic purpose. As one would expect, the amount of travelling they can do is restricted by the number of school-age children and infants, who need a settled base for access to healthcare and regular schooling.”

Ward councillor Brendan McKeown has called the application in so that the planning committee can consider “the impact of the proposal on the Pasturefields SSSI, adjacent canal conservation area, A51 street scene and highway safety.” Hixon Parish Council has objected to the plans for reasons including visual intrusion, lack of waste removal provision, insufficient drainage system and road safety on the A51.

A Shirleywich resident who raised concerns about noise and rural location said: “We don’t want gypsy caravans in such close proximity, having seen the mess they often leave. It will spoil the landscape.”

A Pasturefields resident said: “There are no mains sewers anywhere near the site of the planning as they run to the rear of the cottages which are situated on the opposite side of the A51 at Pasturefields. The field where this planning application is sited is subject to rainwater saturation to the bottom third of that field next to the canal, with standing water laying there throughout the winter and not able to drain away.

“The field where this planning application is sited is adjacent to Pasturefields Salt Marsh Nature Reserve SAC (Special Area of Conservation), which is one of the last-known surviving inland salt marshes in Britain. The site would be visually intrusive from both the road and the Trent and Mersey Canal conservation area and would diminish the tourism potential and economic benefits.

“The Staffordshire Wildlife Trust says the 19.5 acre site is home to threatened birds such as snipe, redshank and skylark. HS2 had to divert (their) original proposed route through the Pasturefields Salt Marsh and move it a half mile towards Great Haywood – at a cost of £154million – because of the impact it would have on the fauna and flora of the salt marsh; given this, I don’t understand why planning would even consider this application.”