Third bid for traveller site in village near Bedford

For the past five years planning agents have been struggling to get permission to turn land at the old Bromham Nurseries into a permanent pitch for eight caravans.

Bedford Borough Council first refused the application in 2013 after objections from residents and the parish council.

They said the location was “unsuitable” and the applicant, a Mrs R Jolley, had failed to supply information on potential noise and land contamination.

Mrs Jolley went to a Planning Inspectorate appeal and lost. She then lodged another planning application, which was refused last year. Now she is appealing again and residents have been asked to make their views known to the planning inspector.

The application is for four traveller families with a total of eight caravans, four of them static mobile homes. It would including hardstanding, a sewage treatment plant and amenity buildings. The site is off the A428, near a bend that residents say is dangerous.

One villager said: “The appeal has now been cleverly moved to Bristol and a decision will be made by yet again faceless people who have no idea about the area.”