‘Unauthorised’ West Lindsey travellers site is made lawful

Dr Siobhan Spencer, from DGLG, made the application on behalf of Ryalla Duffy for a Certificate of Lawful Development for the Odder Bridge Yard land on Broxholme Lane in Saxilby.

Now, the site will be lawfully used for gypsy traveller caravans and the associated structures that come with that.

It was set up in 1999 and permission has been granted for a maximum of ten caravans on the land.

For a site to be declared lawful, there must not have been any enforcement action there for ten years.

Documents submitted to the council laid out evidence of the use for the past 19 years.

If a council agrees to make a site lawful it will not be able to take any action, such as eviction enforcement or planning disputes.

The owner of the Saxilby site said the location holds a Portacabin, a barn and three sheds on concrete bases.

An assessment in 2013 identified a need for 72 additional traveller pitches in Central Lincolnshire by 2033.

In 2015 sites which could accommodate up to 53 pitches were proposed across Lincoln and West Lindsey.

Several of these were removed in 2016 when the Central Lincolnshire Draft Local Plan was revealed.