A government inspector came today to hold a hearing into the appeal for the travellers site application on the A1245 in Rawreth. It was a polite, well-mannered affair.
It was held in one of the council committee rooms in Rayleigh, starting at 10 am. The discussions finished just before 1 pm, and then a visit was made to the site in the afternoon. In the meantime the inspector drove around the area, not only the A1245 itself, but the London Road shops, Church Road, Rawreth Lane and Asda.
There were 10 people present:
We discussed each of the issues in turn. The applicants concentrated on the fact that County Highways were no longer objecting. They also pointed out that the LDF site allocations document last year included this land as a possible location for a traveller site – and all the possible sites were in the Green Belt, so why not use this one?
The Council (and councillors) maintained that this was an important Green belt buffer, and that the highways safety issues shoudln’t be ignored. Development in the Green Belt is only allowed in very special circumstances.
The inspector will now go and write his report. You don’t get a decision on the day!