Travellers’ caravans plan submitted

An application has been put forward to expand a site in the North Herefordshire countryside for eight more travellers’ caravans.

The plans for the Herefordshire Council-owned Turnpike site north of Pembridge also include amenity buildings, a children’s play area and new access onto a private road linking to the highway. Sewage would be dealt with by an on-site package treatment system.

“As the proposed drainage scheme does not meet the position statement [on waste water discharge in the River Lugg catchment], phosphate credits should be purchased to mitigate against this, when these are brought in by Herefordshire Council,” the council’s application said.

The four new plots would each accommodate two caravans, “with each plot accommodating one family unit”, and each plot having its own amenity building with kitchen, bathroom and utility room, it explained.

Money earmarked for the proposed extension “also allows for the regeneration of the existing six-unit site which is currently in a poor state of repair and requires urgent works”, it added.

Funding of £937,000 for the four Pembridge plots was approved in August 2020, though £28,000 of that was later reallocated.

“Ongoing monitoring and maintenance of the site is crucial,” the application says, with CCTV security cameras to be installed on communal areas within the existing site and proposed extension, and inspections to be carried out fortnightly “or more frequently as required”.

The four additional plots are among 13 set out in the council’s Travellers’ Sites Development Plan, adopted in 2019, the others being in Romany Way Grafton (one plot); Orchard Caravan Park, Lower Bullingham (two); Openfields, Bromyard (two); and Nashend Lane, Bosbury (four).
Comments on the proposal, reference 220646, can be made until June 1.