Fury as traveller family win fight to turn farm into gypsy camp despite 200 ... trends now
A furious row has erupted after a traveller family won the right to turn a disused farm into a gypsy camp despite 200 objections from locals.
Debbie Morris, who runs Beckingham Parish Council in Nottinghamshire, called the decision by Bassetlaw District Council ‘anti-democratic’.
She said: ‘Normally five objections to a planning matter is considered a red flag.
"We have just over 600 properties in this village and there were 203 objections but it counted for nothing.
‘We all like to believe we live in a democratic society but when it comes to planning they don’t seem bothered by what the village wants. Even if every house had objected, they would still have passed it."
Romany Gypsy Barry Rodgers, 59, who owns the land, said it was to simply provide a home for himself, his son, daughter in law and five grandchildren.
Mr Rodgers told MailOnline: "I have brought my kids up with morals and the locals will soon see that we are not there to cause a crime wave."
Romany Gypsy Barry Rodgers, 59, who owns the land Beckingham village, Notts, said it was to simply provide a home for himself, his son, daughter in law and five grandchildren
The decision was approved despite 200 objections from locals, some of whom fear the development could start a 'crime wave'
Debbie Morris, who runs Beckingham Parish Council in Nottinghamshire, called the decision by Bassetlaw District Council ‘anti-democratic’
The row centred on a proposal to turn a former strawberry farm to the side of a dual carriageway into a gypsy camp for two static and two mobile caravans.
Petitions went around the village warning that this was not only an inappropriate location for human habitation and unlikely to stop at just the four caravans.
The Parish Council that Mrs Morris heads, listed 12 objections to the development including traffic access, noise, smell and pollution as well as flooding and a rise in crime.
But on Wednesday night, six planning committee members backed the plan against two who opposed with one abstention.
One 69-year-old woman, who has lived 28 years in the village, said: ‘I did object. We just think it is not a suitable place for a traveller site.
‘We think there will be a lot of crime and people are worried about that. I would not trust them to stick to the plans and I think they will be disruptive to the village school with all their coming and going.’
The row centred on a proposal to turn a former strawberry farm to the side of a dual carriageway into a gypsy camp (Pictured: The entrance to the plot)
The plans allow for two static and two mobile caravans to be erected on site
The land's owner, Mr Rodgers, who has lived in the area all his life, insists he has done everything legally
However, Mr Rodgers, who has lived in the area all his life, insists he has done everything legally.
‘I have owned the land for years but I have not done anything to move on before the permission was obtained,’ he said. ‘I have done it all by the book.
‘I have been approached by six traveller families wanting to buy the land off me and move onto it without proper permission but I don’t want that kind of disruption for the village. I just want somewhere my grandkids can call home.’
Beckingham is a well-kept village close to Gainsborough in Lincolnshire with a 13th century church, a village green and a post office.
Although the village pub has gone along with the
