A PLANNING inspector has lambasted council chiefs for “a history of policy failure” by not providing enough sites for gypsies and travellers.

It came as the inspector overturned the authority’s decision to refuse permission for two traveller pitches, parking for three touring caravans and the relocation of a stable block in a field on the edge of Iron Acton, just outside of Yate.

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South Gloucestershire Council had issued enforcement action to have the structures removed, having rejected the proposals because the site is at “high risk” of flooding.

But government inspector Paul Dignan quashed that decision too on the grounds that the local authority has failed to allocate enough gypsy sites and because the two traveller families who live at the property, on the Crossing Cottage estate, would be made homeless because there is nowhere else to go.

In his ruling, Mr Dignan said this would have breached their human rights and that he could “not have any confidence that the needs of the occupants are likely to be met in the foreseeable future” because of the authority’s longstanding shortfall.

The two applicants, Mary Doherty and Caroline Mullane, who live at the site north of Latteridge Road, had lodged an appeal with the Planning Inspectorate against enforcement and refusal to grant consent.

Mr Dignan ruled in favour of both despite acknowledging the development was “harmful” to the greenbelt and was “in conflict” with national and local flood risk policies.

In its original decision in October 2020, South Gloucestershire Council said the land was “highly vulnerable to flood risk” and the siting of gypsy caravans “endangers the lives of the applicants, their children and the emergency services at times of flood”.

But the inspector decided at the appeal inquiry that the scheme could be made safe by imposing conditions after hearing that the mobile home residents would face only a “very low hazard” even in a one-in-100-year flood event.

Mr Dignan’s report said local planning authorities were required to identify a five-year land supply of traveller sites but this had not been met.

A council spokesperson said they accepted the outcome of the inquiry and were committed to providing for the housing needs of 'all our communities.' 

They said the authority’s latest gypsy and traveller accommodation assessment five years ago highlighted a need for 75 more pitches in South Gloucestershire by 2023.