PLANNING permission is being sought for gypsy and traveller accommodation at Chittlehamholt near Umberleigh.

Tree surgeon Mr T May who currently runs Local Roots Tree Nursery on a 3.5 hectare site in the countryside wants a permanent home on land owned by his family.

There is currently a limited supply of traveller accommodation in North Devon.

Planning consultants and agents for the applicant, Tree Tops Planning, said in documents for North Devon Council that Mr May, who is from a Romany Gypsy family, lives on the site in a converted coach in one of the fields.

He has a long history of travelling but North Devon has always been his main home and he went to school locally.

A letter from Devon County Council’s officer responsible for vulnerable and travelling communities, Sabrina Thomas, said Mr May is a qualified and experienced arborist who has been working on trees in the district since 2010, catering for homeowners, businesses, schools and councils.

He has three young children who attend a local primary school and he now wants to establish his family and business on the land, said Tree Tops.

“He would continue to travel for the purposes of economic gain, but equally wishes to settle in this location for personal circumstances.”

The planning agents added that North Devon is home to a number of travellers who live on unauthorised sites and want permanent accommodation.

Some travellers pass through the area and stop for only a short time.

“Due to a current lack of transit accommodation, travellers have resorted to camping on unauthorised sites,” they said. “It is recognised that accommodation on unauthorised encampments can lead to conflicts between the traveller and settled communities.”

Last year councillors agreed to make new attempts to find traveller sites in the new Torridge and North Devon joint local plan or they said the plan could fail when it goes before a planning inspector.

The problem came to the fore last summer when travellers pitched up in Bideford’s Victoria Park, leading to numerous complaints before legal action was taken by Torridge District Council to evict the group.

North Devon Council renewed its commitment to find authorised sites where conflicts would not occur.

The gypsy and traveller accommodation assessment identified a need for 15 pitches for permanent traveller accommodation in northern Devon, six in the North Devon Council area and nine in Torridge, and a larger site in each, both with four to five pitches.

A letter from a neighbour supporting Mr May’s planning application said: “He cares deeply about his trade and the wider environment, as well as his local community and I think it is inspiring to see him and his family trying to find ways to live a more environmentally conscious, low carbon life.”

It added that the potential to provide training and employment opportunities in the future from the business were “particularly prevalent with the lack of opportunities in environmental industries for young people in the local area”.

Representations on this planning application must be made to North Devon Council by Friday, September 20.

Alison Stephenson

LDRS

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