Kettering public inquiry for Loddington traveller site appeal

The date for a public inquiry into a controversial traveller site that is home to eight families has been set for November.

James Delaney and seven other families had bought the land off Cransley Road, Loddington, close to Cransley Reservoir and had started work to clear the field.

The planning authority - the former Kettering Borough Council - first gave a temporary stop notice to works going on at the plot on Friday, October 11, 2019, but the notice was ignored.

Now the inquiry will set out the appeal by Mr Delaney against the enforcement notices.

A public notice of the inquiry said: "The notices allege that without planning permission, [there was] the making of a material change of use of the land from a use for agriculture to a use for stationing and human habitation of caravans, the construction of an area of hardstanding together with a hardstanding means of access and erection of a breeze block building on the western side of the site adjacent to the point of access on to Cransley Road without the grant of planning permission."

The applications relate to the change of use of land to a residential caravan site for eight Traveller families each with two caravans, including the erection of eight utility buildings, the laying of hardstanding and improvement of access.

An inspector appointed by the Secretary of State will attend the inquiry from10am on November 9.

Members of the public may attend the inquiry and, at the discretion of the inspector, express their views.

Anyone who needs disabled access to the inquiry should contact the council to arrange for access, parking and seating.

In 2019, Kettering council had said: "We are aware that this is a flagrant breach of planning control and we are doing everything we can within our powers to address it."

The council had received a planning application from the landowner for the site on October 14, 2019, and villagers had reported seeing 'huge lorries' working on the land.

Mr Delaney had vowed to 'appeal for the rest of his life if he needed to' and that the families just needed 'somewhere to live'.

'It's something we really, really need. For everyone of us, it's a home.' Landowner in Cransley Road gives his side of the story.