It is only fair

At the weekend I visited Upchurch to film a video for my website. I chose Upchurch because I am keen to show visitors to my website as many as possible of the different facets of the Sittingbourne & Sheppey constituency. I also wanted to highlight the perverse nature of our current planning laws.

Upchurch is typical of many of our local communities that face the challenge of providing homes and jobs whilst preserving the quality of life of its existing residents. Sometimes that challenge exposes the inadequacies of planning regulations and poses the question: are those regulations fit for purpose?

In my view the answer is a resounding “no” and in the video I use a couple of local examples to try and explain why I come to that conclusion.

Take for example the case of Gore Farm, which is home to a small nursery and restaurant. Earlier this year the owners built an open-plan wooden extension to the restaurant and erected a large marquee in which to hold wedding receptions and other events. Unfortunately, they failed to apply for planning permission and now they have been instructed by the local planning authority to demolish the extension.

Now I make no comment on the merits of the extension, nor the decision by the borough council to refuse the retrospective planning application that was belatedly submitted. However, just across the field from Gore Farm is another development that took place without planning permission and that transgression is being dealt with in quite a different way.

It is an unauthorised Gypsy site for which temporary planning permission was eventually granted, but which has now expired. So why is this site still occupied? The explanation from Swale Borough Council speaks volumes: “The Planning Committee resolved not to take enforcement action regarding this site until such times as the site has been appraised under the Council’s Gypsy and Traveller policy”.

There is the rub. The Government has placed on local authorities an obligation to provide gypsy sites and until it identifies suitable sites they know that any enforcement action can be successfully challenged.

In Upchurch there are now three such unauthorised Gypsy sites and the settled population are not happy.

I am a firm believer in equality. Gypsies have as much right to live in Britain as do settled people and they have as much right as anybody else to buy land and then park caravans or build on their land. But being equal and having rights is a two edged sword. Gypsies who undertake developments without first obtaining planning permission should be treated in exactly the same way as settled people who build without permission.

It is only fair.