Travellers' site plans turned down (From Gazette Series)

Travellers' site plans turned down

2:43pm Thursday 8th November 2007 in Search By Jeff Weaver

MOVES to establish a new travellers' site near Almondsbury have again been rejected on safety grounds.

Applicant Frederick Price from Market Harborough, Leicestershire, was proposing a site with 20 transit pitches plus one mobile home, one touring caravan and an amenity building on former army camp land off Sacombe Lane in Compton Greenfield.

But South Gloucestershire planning chiefs have turned him down because the site would be dangerously close to underground fuel supply pipes.

The surrounding area is dotted with underground tanks holding millions of litres of fuel in case of national emergency and the site itself is crossed by fuel and gas pipelines.

The site is up a private lane in an area prone to illicit tipping.

Almondsbury parish councillors had expressed alarm at the proposals, citing explosion risks at the site - situated immediately adjacent to the M5 near Cribbs Causeway - and also its proximity to the motorway.

Plans for a permanent travellers' site on the land were rejected on appeal in the early 1990s.

But there were fears that the latest application might stand a better chance because of government pressure on South Gloucestershire Council to increase travellers' site provision in the district.

Senior planning officer Helen O'Connor said the site's location close to fuel storage facilities could present a serious danger to health and safety.

The site entrance was also too close to M5 junction 17, she said. Pitches would be less than 50 metres from the motorway, posing a noise and pollution risk.