TRAVELLER APPEAL FOR LAND OFF CULHAMS MILL – SILCHESTER REF: APPEAL REFERENCE 3210244: LAND AT RAPIERS, LITTLE LONDON ROAD, SILCHESTER, 

We now have the details of the final decision process regarding the travellers Appeal. The result of this process is that the Travellers will be given permission to live on the site or denied planning permission and access.

The Inspector has proposed instead of a full Inquiry a hybrid solution whereby the hearing will be primarily heard by written representation and partly through a face to face hearing which will be held in Silchester Village Hall on 27th/28th of April 2021.

This proposal has been accepted by all parties and the Inspector will require written depositions from all parties by the 16th March.  This includes representations from local residents.

BDBC will be writing to residents to formally notify them of the procedure and provide associated dates.

The Planning Inspector will make her final decision on the outcome of this appeal following the hearing on the 27th/28th April.  

CALL TO ACTION: 

The unauthorised occupation and development of the water meadow off Culhams Mill first took place almost four years ago!  It has been a long hard slog since then by many people within our community.  However, largely through the solidarity shown by residents of Silchester and Little London, we have managed to ensure that occupation of the site has, thus far, been prevented.

We are now on the last leg of this and we hope that, with one final effort, will put an end to this dispute once and for all.

The current Inquiry process is being held by the Planning Inspectorate for England and Wales (sometimes known as PINS).  This operates independently from the BDBC planning process and the original objections through the BDBC planning portal are not automatically carried over.  

As such, whilst the original planning application received 248 objections, the Planning Inspector has only received on 53 thus far.

If you still feel strongly about the development of the water meadow at Culhams Mill into a 13 pitch caravan site for Travellers and Gypsies and would like your voice to be heard then we encourage you to register your objection.

Instead of (hopefully) hundreds of you writing to the inspector with our template or your own letter you can sign up in support of our objection  at www.callevasociety.org/appeal.

The details to be collected are Name, Address and email. We will  then pass these on to the Inspector.

You can still send your own letter or our template by email to

Mr Ben White, Case Officer. 

TeamE3@planninginspectorate.gov.uk

The PINS appeal reference for this is “Appeal Reference 3210244: Land at Rapiers, Little London Road, Silchester,”. 

All submissions should be by the 16th March at the latest. 

As before, there is no need for objections to come from just within the community; they will be considered from wherever they are submitted as long as the grounds for objection refer to relevant planning considerations (reflected in the template). Objections are not per household and therefore all adult occupants can individually object.

We genuinely believe that the end of this saga is finally in sight and we would like to encourage all residents to make a final effort to stop this unauthorised development once and for all.

Best wishes

Simon and Steve