A ROMANY gipsy who bought land near Islip with his Lottery winnings is set to appeal after his plan to put caravans on it was rejected.

David Goddard asked for planning permission to place eight mobile homes for his family on the site, after buying the land four years ago.

Cherwell District Council rejected the application amid an outcry from people living near the site, on the east side of the A34 between Islip and Hampton Poyle, which is Green Belt land.

Mr Goddard told members of the council’s planning committee: “I bought the land four years ago to develop it for my family to be near the hospital, doctors and schools for the children. As far as I’m concerned, it’s only a little parcel of land and I’m asking to provide a home for my family.”

However, Kidlington, Islip and Hampton Gay & Poyle parish councils and 60 residents objected to the proposal.

They said it should not be allowed on Green Belt land, posed a flooding risk and was too close to the A34 junction.

Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for highways, did not object and the council’s planning officers had recommended approval.

Their report to the committee meeting on Thursday said the argument was finely balanced but the need for legal gipsy sites meant there were special circumstances that allowed it in the Green Belt.

The “personal circumstances of the proposed occupiers should also be considered”, the report added.

Even if the council had endorsed the plan, it would have required final consent from the Government.

Each plot would have a two-bed mobile home and day room, two parking spaces, space for touring caravan and a septic tank.

Planning committee member Michael Gibbard said: “I do sympathise with the family, but it does seem perverse we’re asked to consider for health reasons to set a precedent for a site alongside the A34, with stationary traffic turning out fumes every single night.”

Diana Edwards said: “I have sat on this committee for 10 years and seen every time someone wants to put something on Green Belt it’s refused. And without the turn of a hair they want us to allow eight buildings, plus outhouses. I just find it incredible.”

But councillor David Hughes said: “I have lived near a traveller site at Wendlebury for the past 10 years and in that amount of time there have been no problems whatsoever and the people who live there are part of the community.

“I don’t think it’s ideal having young families so close to a busy dual carriageway, but as the applicant said, it’s nigh on impossible to find the perfect site.”

Mr Goddard’s agent, Sally Woodbury, of the Romany Gipsy Advisory Group, confirmed he bought the site with a lottery win but did not know how much he won.

She said Mr Goddard was likely to lodge an appeal with the Government’s Planning Inspectorate, because the council did not have any other sites allocated for travellers’ homes.