Jenrick told to apologise for 'baseless' traveller site comments

A ROW has broken out over a traveller site in Newark, with Conservative shadow minister Robert Jenrick being told to apologise for suggesting there is a “two-tier planning system”.

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

The traveller site off Bullpit Road in Balderton

The Tory MP for Newark said ina public social media post that Newark and Sherwood District Council had “sided with the law breakers" after granting permission for the traveller site on land previously used as a paddock in Balderton.

The site, next to a railway line off Bullpit Road, includes 10 individual pitches, each comprising space for a static caravan and a touring caravan.

The planning application, submitted in May last year and approved in November, said the district council had overseen a “failure” to provide enough space for gypsy and traveller sites.

An open letter has now been written to Mr Jenrick following his January 2 post, and he has been told to apologise for “besmirching” the council's name.

The letter from Councillor Andy Freeman, chair of Newark and Sherwood's planning committee, says: “Our planning committee expressed considerable frustration when dealing with the application, making clear that they would have wanted to receive an application for planning permission before, not after, the development had been created.