A consultation will be held over proposals for Gypsy and Traveller pitches to be established on an area of land off Shottendane Road in Garlinge.
The land, which is owned by the council, has been leased for agricultural use since 1977 although notice on that lease to expire this October has been served on tenant farmer Jonathan Tapp.
The council’s Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment, published in 2019, identified the need for 7 permanent pitches and 5 transit pitches. A pitch is defined as providing sufficient spaces for two caravans, two vehicles and utility blocks, supported by communal facilities.
The proposal for the Shottendane land is for two access points, one from Caxton Road and the other from Shottendane Road, with four permanent pitches and a community room, a children’s play area and an area for animals.
This would be subject to a planning application which will not be submitted until after consultation and further discussion by councillors to review the results.
At a council meeting last night, which was attended by residents from Garlinge and members of the Westgate and Garlinge Action Group against housing development on farmland, council leader Rick Everitt said the proposal was “driven by the current and future needs of families already in the area and already an integral part of the community.”
Cllr Everitt said sites had previously been assessed in 2019-2020 with further work and visits carried out by the then-Conservative administration between 2021-2023. Shottendane was identified as a potential Gypsy and Traveller site but a funding bid for this failed.
Deputy council leader Helen Whitehead said the decision being made was “on one thing and one thing only, whether to have a consultation on the potential provision of a Traveller site on a previously and comprehensively assessed site at Shottendane. We are not being asked to provide a site. We are not being asked to give permission for a site. We are being asked to allow residents to formally give their opinion on the possibility of the provision of a site.”
However, questions were raised as to why just one site was being put forward for consultation.
Garlinge councillor John Worrow said: “I have been speaking to local tenant farmer Jonathan Tapp, whose family has been farming in Garlinge for generations. Farmer Tapp is devastated by the news that he is being kicked off his farmland.
“Why has this greenfield, grade 1 agricultural land been singled out when brownfield sites such as the former hoverport site in Cliffsend were not considered?”
Cllr Whitehead said talks had been taking place with Mr Tapp and a meeting arranged.
She added: “That discussion, as it could have done previously, will also cover discussions of long leases for part of the site and short term leases for other parts. The reason for the termination of the lease links to the fact that all of this land is linked under the current lease.”
She said there were complications around separating the current lease, with part of the site needed by KCC for the Inner Circuit road network, and a new lease is needed.
Cllr Everitt said the hoverport site had previously been assessed as part of a long list of options in 2019 but had not been put forward for potential use. He later added that it was unsuitable for use due to being in a flood risk area, being next to a SSSI and possibly being contaminated. He added: “The council has no plans for that site. I wish we did as it is a large site.”
Green councillor Tricia Austin said: “As a Green Party councillor I inevitably regret any use of agricultural land for anything other than growing food on it.
“On the other hand as a councillor who has been working with Traveller families for a number of years now having had a group of families literally dumped in my ward, I have become acutely aware of the need for these sites and the fact that we have let the Traveller community in Thanet down by not providing these sites.”
She added: “The point needs to be made that this is just the beginning of a process and it’s about listening to what everyone has to say, residents, tenant farmers and members of the Traveller community.”
Labour councillor David Green also suggested more sites should be considered, highlighting the recommendation from councillors at a scrutiny meeting on January 16 that multiple sites should be consulted on.
He also said that although other sites had been assessed previously, those details were not in the current report, adding: “I do not think we can expect residents to know what happened months or years ago and how this land (Shottendane) has been selected for this special treatment.”
He added: “We recognise council needs to provide land for Travellers if only to comply with government regulations. But from the point of view of residents they want to see, and they want to see now, that this land is being treated along with all others that could possibly be used.”
The call to take up the recommendation of the scrutiny panel to include more possible sites in a consultation was echoed by Conservative councillors Reece Pugh and George Kup. Cllr Pugh highlighted that consulting on multiple sites at one time would be better than repeating the exercise for each parcel of land put forward to cover the entire Traveller site requirement.
The council says Shottendane has capacity to accommodate all the 12 pitches needed but the proposal is for a number of smaller schemes, adding that early engagement with the Traveller Coalition suggests a number of smaller family sized sites, consisting of between 2 and 4 plots would be more appropriate.
This means: “If some of the required pitches are provided on the land at Shottendane Road, there will still be a requirement for further sites elsewhere providing for the remaining identified need.”
A report says the council could offer the site or individual pitches for rent, lease or sale but could only consider direct delivery of pitches if the costs were fully covered by pitch fees and/or external grant funding. There is currently no identified capital funding to support the provision of new sites.
The report adds: “Outline or detailed planning consent would also create an option for the council to dispose of any proposed site by way of a lease or sale to a family or families wishing to occupy the land or to a third party seeking to establish and manage a site.”
Cabinet members agreed to conduct public consultation with the Gypsy and Traveller community and neighbouring residents about the Shottendane Road proposal with an amendment that the results would come back to Cabinet and Scrutiny panel meetings before any planning application is submitted.
As part of the same report it was agreed to dispose of part of the land at Shottendane Road to Kent County Council for the proposed Inner Circuit road network and a linked sustainable drainage scheme and that housing on the Shottendane land would only be considered, following the assessment of all land submitted to the council as part of the ‘Call for Sites’ and the completion of the current review of the Thanet Local Plan.
Housing director Bob Porter estimated the consultation, and then bringing those results back to Cabinet and Scrutiny, could take around three months.
Action group
The Westgate and Garlinge Action Group had written to Cllr Everitt over their concerns of the use of agricultural land when there are brownfield sites on the isle.
The group suggested an evaluation of previously assessed sites such as the Hoverport, land at Tivoli Brook, the Potten Street car park in St Micholas-at-Wade, Shottendane and hardstanding at Jackey Bakers in Ramsgate.
The group has been backed by North Thanet MP Sir Roger Gale, who said: “I strongly support the view, shared by the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and the Action Group, that a further and thorough review of all potential sites should be undertaken before any decision is submitted to full Council for possible approval.”
Previous assessments
In December 2019 approval was given for further work to assess Potten Street in St Nicholas-at-Wade, Tivoli Brook in Margate and Ramsgate Port for use as temporary tolerated stopping sites.
But both Ramsgate Port and Tivoli Brook were removed from the plans in July 2020 and Shottendane was then added to the list without any meeting by the working group responsible for assessing the sites.
In September of that year proposals for temporary tolerated Traveller sites at Potten Street car park and the land at Shottendane Road in Margate were put on hold.
Thanet council instead opted to launch a ‘call for sites’ through its Local Plan review.
