CONTROVERSIAL plans for six plots for travelling showpeople in the Yate area have been approved.

South Gloucestershire councillors granted permission by 8-1 votes for mobile homes, as well as trucks and trailers to store fairground equipment, on land at Oakleigh Green Farm Lane, Westerleigh, after hearing the district’s “dire” shortage of pitches had doubled since 2017.

Westerleigh Parish Council and 14 residents objected on grounds including inappropriate development in open countryside and traffic safety because the site is near an oil terminal and a pig abattoir, which have large numbers of lorries and tankers entering and exiting each day.

Puma Energy, which runs the fuel storage facility, objected saying there were 300 daily HGV movements to and from its business, an average of one every two minutes over 10 hours.

But transport officers said the application by Travelling Showman Joe Maggs on behalf of his family, who have lived in the area for more than 30 years, was acceptable because the road access had adequate visibility and that the amount of extra traffic from six plots would not cause congestion.

South Gloucestershire Council development manager Marie Bath told a planning committee: “The council cannot meet the needs of travelling showpeople and this is a significant material factor in the determination of the application.

“It is a worsening situation. In 2017 our need was for 31 additional plots. Our need is now 65 by 2042, so we’ve doubled our need.”

She said this was in addition to the consented schemes not currently occupied and an extra 132 gypsy and traveller pitches that were required.

Ms Bath said: “Given our dire unmet need and that only 25 per cent of the council’s area is out of greenbelt, there’s a very reasonable likelihood of greenbelt land being needed to meet identified need.

“This site is immediately available, it’s not isolated and significant weight is given to the fact the site will be occupied by children.”

She said that, by definition, the development was inappropriate in the greenbelt but that “very special circumstances” existed – the lack of plots elsewhere – which meant the benefits clearly outweighed the harms.

Ms Bath said that although an identical proposal was rejected in 2019 on greenbelt grounds, much had changed since then, including a number of planning appeals being upheld by inspectors following refusal of consent by the council.

A report by officers to the development management committee on Thursday, October 24, recommending approval, said visual harm would be minimal because of dense vegetation along all the boundaries.

It said: “The proposal would be in its residential use predominantly out of season, ie, autumn to early spring, and it is expected that users will be off site for prolonged periods during the peak season (late spring through to early autumn and potentially again during the Christmas period for festivals etc).

“During peak periods, the impact on neighbouring amenity will be extremely limited.

“It is expected that when the site is inhabited, the movement of vehicles will be in relation to the day-to-day residential needs and therefore the trips would take place in private motor vehicles and not heavy goods vehicles and would be no more significant than a traditional residential use in impact.

“The harm in this case constitutes the loss of openness from the stationing of mobile homes, vehicles and machinery and hardstanding over 0.9 hectares of greenbelt.

“Weighing in favour of the scheme is the existing unmet need for showpersons and gypsy and traveller site sites, and a number of recent appeal decisions.”

Cllr June Bamford (Conservative, Hanham) said: “There is a huge amount of tankers coming out from that area.

“But we haven’t got enough pitches, and in light of the appeals which have been upheld, if [we refused permission and] it went to appeal, we would probably lose.”