A GYPSY whose family has lived in the New Forest for generations has won his fight against an enforcement order issued by the national park authority to remove a mobile home from farmland in Dibden.
Anthony Chick had been accused of breaching planning rules by installing the home, hard surfacing and earth bunds on land adjacent to Dibden Golf Course in Main Road.
The NPA said he had materially changed the use of the land by making the changes and siting a caravan at the site, and ordered him in June 2023 to get rid of the mobile home and the hardstanding.
Rectory Cottage is off Main Road in Dibden (picture: Google)
One of their objections was based on claims that the development had “generated anti-social behaviour, environmental protection issues and commercial use of the land associated with vehicle sales, resulting in noise and high levels of activity”.
But a planning inspector said that “while they (NPA) had seen social media posts for a boat and a quad bike being sold by the appellant, they had no firsthand knowledge of the claimed commercial use of the land, the anti-social behaviour or environmental protection issue”.
In his appeal Mr Chick, who works as a gardener. had revealed how his family had “travelled and worked extensively throughout the New Forest for generations”.
His family hold Foresters’ Rights, which allow the grazing of their horses on the New Forest.
Mr Chick said that until the planning matter was settled his two children were living with an aunt, and that if enforcement action was upheld his family would be homeless.
But a planning inspector has now found in Mr Chick’s favour, saying that his “agreed Gypsy status” meant that some of the planning policies the NPA had referred to in its enforcement notice were not relevant.
The local plan was said to “acknowledges that the New Forest has a long history of association with the gypsy and traveller community, and that their needs are recognised in national planning policy”.
The caravan was not “major development”, said the inspector, and therefore did not need to enhance the natural environment.
Under the Hampshire Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation there had been a need for one additional pitch to be provided in the Forest between 2016 and 2036.
The NPA claimed that a site for this pitch had been identified already in another area.
But the inspector said this section of the local plan “was out of date”, and although the NPA had said they were planning to carry out a review “this does nothing to address the lack of up-to-date information about the accommodation needs of travellers now”.
The NPA had also claimed there were no other sites available for Gypsy and travellers in the Forest, but the inspector said that the site under dispute was in “private ownership and is an extension to an established pitch”.
They added: “In these circumstances, a suitable and available alternative site for the family currently occupying the appeal site cannot be identified. This weighs positively in favour of the development.”
The inspector added: “The character of the largely open and undeveloped landscapes between and within settlements within the national park are unaffected by the development.
“Taking all these factors together, in my judgement the development causes negligible harm to the character and appearance of the immediate locality.
“Furthermore, the lack of available alternative sites and the appellant’s personal circumstances are material considerations, to which I attribute great weight.
“The granting of personal planning permission would go some way towards advancing equality of opportunity by providing much-needed gypsy and traveller accommodation and by recognising the personal circumstances of the appellant and their family.”
The inspector imposed conditions, including that only Mr Chick’s family should occupy the site and that the number of pitches and caravans was limited to his own.