Gypsy families set up home on land near Horsham: 'We've nowhere else to go'

The families are living in four caravans on land off Marches Road in Warnham and are now seeking retrospective planning permission from Horsham District Council to stay there.

They say they will be forced to live on the road if approval is not given for the siting of their two static caravans and two touring caravans on the land which was previously used as a storage and distribution container yard.

White Planning, agents for the families, admit in a report to the council that the families did not seek planning permission before moving onto the land but that ‘the personal circumstances which led to the need to occupy the site at short notice, are supplied by separate confidential cover, to the Local Planning Authority.’

And they say that ‘no material harms’ have been caused to the land that could not be retrospectively mitigated.

They say: “It is important to note that no further works are planned or intended to be carried out in addition to those already undertaken.”

And they point out that Horsham has ‘an acute need’ for gypsy and traveller pitches but that many previous applications have been rejected on ‘water neutrality’ grounds.

“However,” say the agents, “this does not remove the need for pitches in the local area.” They say that the families have submitted “a separate confidential, personal circumstances document setting out their personal need for a suitable and available pitch.

“The applicants were looking for over 18 months for alternative pitches to the circumstances as set out in the separate need document. Despite this regular and ongoing search for suitable land in and around the area, as far wide as Guildford, to Chichester, to Horsham, they have been unable to find suitable or available land either with or without planning permission.”

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And, they add: “The applicants wish to make it expressly clear to the council, that a refusal of planning permission will result in the applicants’ family returning to a roadside existence.

"There is no option for the family to return to the previous property and they have no alternative sites or pitches on which to move.”