Woolhampton gypsy camp extension plan

Plans have been resubmitted to extend a gypsy/traveller site in Woolhampton.

Applicants want to have permission for a mobile home and a caravan on the site on land west of Hill Place on Bath Road.

A previous application was refused by West Berkshire Council as a steep earthworks slope and a hard standing had been constructed next to the railway line, without Network Rail’s safety approval.

The bid is to extend the existing permitted site by around 20 metres, and the planning application says the fencing and earthworks deemed to cause a harmful visual impact have been landscaped.

The application says the extension of the site, while an encroachment into the countryside, is not intrinsically harmful, as any new gypsy and traveller sites will have to be located within the countryside areas.

It says that views of the site are already views of an existing caravan site, against the backdrop of a green field, adding the views of the site would remain the same, and a single additional pitch would not result in the cumulative scale of gypsy/traveller sites within the immediate locality.