A group of Travellers have applied to make legal the expansion of a Travellers’ site on the edge of Swindon that has grown beyond what was originally allowed.

Twelve individuals have put their names to an application to the Vale of White Horse District Council which says it is seeking to regularise a breach of planning control relating to the intensification and expansion of Windmill View, Watchfield.

There are more touring and static caravans using a travellers’ site on the A420 on the edge of Watchfield village, just north of Shrivenham and southwest of Highworth, than were originally allowed. 

When the narrow triangular site was given permission in 2012 it was for: “eight gypsy pitches together with the formation of additional hard standing and utility/dayrooms ancillary to that use.”

Now the 12 individuals have asked for permission for a total of 53 caravans – 27 static mobile homes, 26 touring caravans, nine utility rooms, and 15 dayrooms.

The application says the touring caravans would not be used to live in while on the site but would be stored there while their owners inhabit the mobile homes: “to facilitate the nomadic way of life of Gypsies and Travellers.

“The 15 dayrooms and nine utility rooms proposed are ancillary amenity buildings to the residential occupation of the mobile Homes, many of which are previously approved.”

The caravans and day rooms, the application says, should be considered part of each pitch and not as separate residences: “Each caravan and dayroom is not a separate unit of accommodation, but a part of the residential pitch, which is a non-permanent residential use, i.e. a residential use undertaken continuously for a specific period of the year.”

The application says regulating what is an over-use of the site fits in with the council’s policy regarding Traveller and Gypsy sites: “The policy sets out that sites for Gypsy/Traveller accommodation will be delivered through the implementation of extant planning permissions, extending existing sites where possible to meet the needs of existing residents and their families, and allocating specific deliverable sites.”

It adds: “The site is not situated within a locally valued landscape and is an existing developed site and therefore unlikely to impact upon any sites of ecological value, or habitats.

“As an existing site, the impact on the character and appearance of the area would be limited. The extension of the site is not considered to result in any adverse impact on character. The site has suitable highway access, as previously approved.”