Traveller family wins appeal against council notice to clear land

A GYPSY traveller site on agricultural land in Hawarden has been granted on appeal by Welsh planning inspectors.

- By ALEC DOYLE Local Democracy Reporter

Planning and Environment Decisions Wales (PEDW) said in its ruling that Flintshire County Council was 'failing to meet its statutory duty' to gypsy and traveller families by having no strategy in place for those with an immediate need for accommodation.

It also stated that when the applicant and his immediate dependants cease to occupy the land, it must be restored to its previous state within six months with no additional residents or ongoing residential rights.

The parcel of land at the bottom of Gladstone Way, just off the Queensferry junction of the A494, was originally subject to a planning application in 2021 for the installation of hard standing and a permanent utility room.

That permission was refused by Flintshire County Council's Planning Committee against the advice of officers but the hardstanding was installed and residential caravans moved onto the site. A retrospective planning application was then lodged last year, again for hard standing for two caravans with a permanent utility room.

It was refused a second time due to the land being outside the settlement area in the Flintshire Local Development Plan and the fact the land was part of the protected Green Wedge.