Frome travellers’ site expansion agreed, by local democracy reporter Daniel Mumby

A TRAVELLERS’ site roughly halfway between Frome and Westbury can double in size following a decision by Somerset councillors. 

Charlie Ward and his wife Clona were granted permission by the Planning Inspectorate in 2021 to create a traveller’s pitch on the B3099 Marsh Road in the hamlet of Standerwick, a short distance from the Somerset-Wiltshire border. 

They applied to Mendip District Council to create a second traveller’s piece on the site now known as Orchard View, creating an overall development of two mobile homes, two touring caravans and two day rooms. 

The council’s planning board voted to grant permission on 13th April, despite local concerns that the number of travellers in the area could outnumber permanent residents. 

The site lies a short distance from the busy A36 between Frome and Bath, to the south of the railway connecting Frome and Westbury on the Bristol to Weymouth mainline. 

A group of local residents, who did not give their names, issued a joint statement to the council which argued that approving this site would lead to a high concentration of travellers’ pitches within a small, sparsely populated area – something which is discouraged by national planning policy. 

The statement read, “[Our postcode of] BA11 2PZ includes 12 settled properties and at least 14 travellers’ pitches at two different locations. 

“The 11 pitches located at Moors Barn (five of them non-approved) were not included in the planning officer’s count of nearby travellers’ sites, despite being clearly visible from the permanent dwellings. 

“Traveller pitches therefore now greatly exceed permanent dwellings in this very small area, in clear breach of government planning policy. This alone should lead to the refusal for all further traveller sites in this postcode, including retrospective applications.” 

The Planning Inspectorate is currently assessing a separate appeal to create five travellers’ pitches on the nearby Moors Barn site. 

Berkley Parish Council (whose parish includes Standerwick) criticised the council for failing to meet requirements for travellers’ pitches across the rest of the district, resulting in the area becoming “fundamentally altered” and “hemmed in by illegal travellers’ sites”. 

Charlie Ward responded, in a statement read aloud on his behalf, that the expansion of the site was necessary to meet the needs of his family. 

He said, “I am a family man who has his family’s interest at heart. I am 100 per cent a member of the traveller community, and rightly proud of my roots. 

“I have family of school age and other family members with health issues – this extension is necessary.” 

Councillor Francis Hayden said the residents “seemed to have legitimate concerns” regarding the number of sites in the area – but accepted that this was a matter for the council’s enforcement team, rather than a matter on which the board could rule. 

Councillor Eve Berry – who represents the neighbouring Frome Berkley Down ward – added, “I have grave concerns about this. 

“We seem to be guilty in Mendip of putting all our sites in one place. I think we need to get to grips with the whole area.” 

Similar concerns were raised in July 2020 by the residents of West Compton, near Shepton Mallet, who claimed the number of travellers living across 11 nearby sites was more than double the settled population of the hamlet. 

Resident Richard Woodhouse stated at the time, “The longer the council does not grasp the nettle then the harder the growing problem becomes to resolve.” 

Councillor Nick Cottle said the Marsh Road proposals did not constitute “over-development” – but asked for the situation to be carefully monitored, citing past experience in his own ward of Glastonbury St. Edmund’s. He said, “I have traveller sites in my ward – one which is about the same size as this one and kept very tidy, and another one where we’ve got more than 40 caravans or living homes on a couple of acres of land. 

“I’d want an assurance that we are keeping an eye on this site to make sure it doesn’t grow. The latter site in my ward, at Fourways, originally started with one family and it’s now huge.” 

Councillor Lucie Taylor-Hood added, “I feel very uncomfortable about the way we talk about the gypsy and traveller community and the settled community in a very ‘them and us’ kind of way, pitting one community against the other. 

“Many people have to live in these ways, many people choose to live in these ways – we do have a housing crisis. In Glastonbury, there is a large amount of people living in vans and caravans because they can’t afford rents and there’s no chance of them ever getting a mortgage.” 

The board ultimately voted to approve the plans by a margin of ten votes to one. 

Ms Berry and Mr Cottle are standing in the local elections for the new unitary Somerset Council on May 5, in the divisions of Frome East and Glastonbury respectively.