A PLANNING inquiry over a Romany gypsy’s proposal to put caravans on Green Belt land will be held on June 8, it has been announced.
The independent Planning Inspectorate will hear the plan over two days at Cherwell District Council’s offices in Bodicote House, Bodicote, Banbury after the council turned down the scheme.
Applicant David Goddard is appealing against the decision for his plan to put eight mobile homes for his family on the site, after buying the land four years ago after a lottery win.
Councillors went against officers’ recommendation when they rejected the application for land on the east side of the A34 between Islip and Hampton Poyle, between Kidlington and Bicester.
They said it was against planning policy because the site was in a Green Belt.
But Mr Goddard argued the application meets planning laws that make exemptions for “special circumstances” as his family needed to be near the hospital, doctors and schools for the children.
He also said the council did not have any other sites allocated for travellers’ homes.
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.
Each plot would have a two-bedroom mobile home and day room, two parking spaces, space for touring caravan and a septic tank.
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