Plans to create new Gypsy and Traveller homes in Huntingdonshire have been approved on the second attempt. 

Huntingdonshire District Council has approved an application to establish two Gypsy and Traveller pitches in Farcet. 

While the plans received support from a majority of councillors, some said they had concerns about whether the change would impact people living at the Conquest House care home. 

The application asked for permission for the two Gypsy and Traveller pitches on a field off Straight Drove, with each proposed to include one mobile home, one touring caravan, and a day room. 

A similar application was previously refused by the district council, with the decision being held up by the planning inspectorate at an appeal in 2015. 

A planning officer told councillors at a development management committee meeting this week (Monday, June 19), that the only reason the appeal had been dismissed was due to the proximity of the proposed caravans to Conquest House. 

They said the latest application had looked to address this issue by moving the position of the proposed pitches further away from the care home. 

The planning officer also said the authority did not have an up to date Gypsy and Traveller needs assessment for the district, and said there were no sites currently allocated in the area. 

Nathaniel Green, a representative of the applicant, said there was a “considerable and unmet need in the area” for Gypsy and Traveller pitches. 

Concerns about the plans had been raised by the MP for North West Cambridgeshire, Shailesh Vara, and by Farcet Parish Council, who said the land had not been allocated for development in the district council’s local plan. 

The parish council also argued that the doctors surgery and the primary school were “oversubscribed”, and that there were “health and safety concerns” due to the lack of a footpath between the site and the village. 

The council officer said there was predicted to be a “slight shortfall” in space at the primary school in the next couple of years, but said this was expected to be followed by lower numbers of pupils attending in subsequent years. ]

They said they did not believe the two pitches would be “detrimental” to this. 

Some councillors said they still had concerns about how close the pitches were proposed to be to Conquest House. 

However, others said they said they did not think there would be an issue.

Cllr Steve McAdam said he had visited the site and said he had “difficulty making [the care home] out”. 

He said there “seemed to be some kind assumption” in some of the objections that people in the Gypsy and Traveller community were “trouble makers”. 

Cllr McAdam said he did not believe this “at all” and said they had the “right to live the way they do”. 

When the application was put to a vote nine councillors voted in favour of approving the plans, and four voted against.