Dear neighbours,

Firstly, in these strange times, our sincere wishes that you are all keeping safe.  If you know of anyone experiencing hardship and you think that there is a way that we can help then please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

As the Bank Holiday approaches our discussions in the Calleva Society inevitably return to the potential for the traveller site at Culham’s Mill being re-occupied.  The High Court injunction, however, appears to remain a significant deterrent in preventing the owners from occupying the land until the planning process has fully run its course.  The land at Culham’s Mill is actually covered by two High Court injunctions.  The first has been taken out by the planning enforcement team and is site specific and the second has been taken out by the Environmental Health team at BDBC and covers a large swathe of land (including Silchester) across the Borough.  Whilst we are no lawyers, our understanding is that a breach of these injunctions would be regarded as contempt of court and has the potential for a custodial sentence.  We are informed that  the latter of the two injunctions also brings with it powers of immediate arrest. For the full  content of the Borough wide injunction go to https://www.basingstoke.gov.uk/content/doclib/2852.pdf

The Planning Inspectorate inquiry date was originally set for this coming June but, given the current situation with Covid 19, it is unsurprising that is has been put back to 29^th September 2020.  Nonetheless, we continue to liaise with BDBC on a regular basis and we are confident that they will put forward a strong case on our behalf.  As always, if you do see any activity at the site please do let us know as soon as possible so that we can inform the appropriate authorities.  Feel free to call Simon on 07769 684283

Kind Regards

Steve Spillane, Simon Mahaffey and the team.

Calleva Society

callevasociety@gmail.com

www.callevasociety.org or to donate https://callevasociety.org/make-a-donation/

Dear Friends and Neighbours,

Now that Christmas and New Year are behind us and we are getting back to the daily grind of reality, we thought it would be a good opportunity to remind everyone of the need to register your comments on the unauthorised  Traveller site on the land behind Rampiers – Silchester / Culhams Mill.  We are aware that we have now been fighting this battle for nearly three years and there will have been plenty of new people that have moved into Silchester and Little London in the meantime….so please do spread the word  and forward this email to anyone that may not be aware of this issue.

When the first tipper lorries started rolling through our community at Easter 2017 the planning team at Basingstoke and Deane received over 300 telephone calls and emails of complaint before they concluded that they were unable to log any further calls.  In response to the planning application itself over 230 individuals took the time to register a written objection.  Whilst we have been successful at every stage of the process so-far, the application has now moved to the appeal stage with the Planning Inspectorate (note this is a higher planning level than BDBC and represents The Secretary of State), the whole process starts again and our previous objections need repeating.  

We really want to emphasise the need to avoid complacency and, if this issue still matters to our community, then we encourage everyone to raise a further objection with the Planning Inspector either by using the Calleva Society template (see below) or by drafting your own objection.  At present, we are aware of only a handful of objections having been submitted so please don’t think your contribution will not make a difference.  The deadline for submission is the 13th of January and, having come this far, it would be a great shame for us to fall at the last hurdle through apathy or simple forgetfulness.  

Since its inception the Calleva Society has urged residents to take a measured approach to this planning application and we have encouraged people to avoid any comments about the Traveller way of life or their personal perceptions about how Travellers conduct their affairs.  All sectors of society have the same basic personal needs and we all deserve the right to live our lives peacefully and with respect for our neighbours.  This said, there is plenty of evidence to indicate that anti-social behaviour is associated with large Traveller sites……whether this be from the occupants themselves, members of the settled community or from opportunists from neighbouring communities that see the chance of blaming the travelling community for their own anti-social, and often criminal, behaviour.  If this site is granted permission it will be the largest single traveller site in the Borough (currently 10-13 pitches with room for expansion in the future) and the consequences will be something that we will have to live with for a very long time.

Please take the opportunity now to have your voice heard and register your thoughts with the planning inspectorate. We have prepared a template representation which is on the Calleva Society Website click here. The pdf version can be printed and signed for submission by post or the word version can be used as an email.
Templates are called  Residents letter to appeal Jan 2020 can be found click here

You can send representations by email to TeamE1@planninginspectorate.gov.uk  or three copies by post to :
The Planning Inspectorate
Room 3E
Temple Quay House
2 The Square Bristol
BS1 6PN,

All representations must quote  APP/H1705/C/18/3210244 and be received by 13 January 2020
Please let us have copies of emails or further information requests to callevasociety@gmail.com

The planning Inspectorate have stated they would prefer submissions to be made via their on-line portal click here  This portal is very slow and can be a bit of a slog but please if it does not work for you or you do not have access   – submit your comments by email or post. Help with using the portal can be downloaded by clicking here

Please remember representations are per individual not per household, so every occupant at a property can submit.

Regards

Steve Spillane, Simon Mahaffey and the team.

Calleva Society

callevasociety@gmail.com
www.callevasociety.org or to donate https://callevasociety.org/make-a-donation/

The planning inspector has now started the wheels in motion for the inquiry into the appeal by the travellers against Basingstoke and Deane’s (BDBC) enforcement process. The Inquiry date has not been set but is likely to be June 2020.

The Planning Inspectorate have asked for written representations to be submitted by January 13th.

Some of you may have received letters from BDBC about this with the reasons for the enforcement notice and they can be found at https://pad.basingstoke.gov.uk/documents/4753/01/22/25/01222593.PDF

Even if you have registered a comment about the development to BDBC in the past, the appeal process means that everything starts again from scratch so you will need to object once more to the planning Inspectorate by January 13^th. Remember it is a representation per person not per household.  In appeal cases the volume of objections really does count for a lot and we would like to remind you that objections do not need to come from within the local area as long as they refer to material planning issues.

As a community the residents of Silchester and Little London have received plaudits from across the Borough about how we have stood firm against this unauthorised development without letting it spill over into hostile or prejudiced confrontation with the Gypsy and Traveller Community.  We have been successful thus far in preventing the occupation of the site largely because we have taken a passionate but measured approach.  If this issue still matters to you then we encourage you and your neighbours to make your voices heard by registering your ongoing objection.

We have prepared  template representations which are on the Calleva Society Website at https://callevasociety.org/documents/objection-letters-toolkit/. There are two version the full planning referenced document and a simplified version, both as Word and Pdf files. The pdf version can be printed and signed for submission by post or the word version can be used as an email.

You can send representations by email to TeamE1@planninginspectorate.gov.uk  or three copies by post to :
The Planning Inspectorate
Room 3E
Temple Quay House
2 The Square Bristol
BS1 6PN,

All representations must quote  APP/H1705/C/18/3210244 and be received by 13 January 2020
Please let us have copies of emails or further information requests to callevasociety@gmail.com

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you and your family a Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year.

Regards

Steve Spillane, Simon Mahaffey and the team.

Calleva Society

callevasociety@gmail.com

www.callevasociety.org or to donate https://callevasociety.org/make-a-donation/

Travellers site – Land Adjacent To And Rear Of Culhams Mill

Dear Resident,

Whilst we are still waiting for the Planning Inspectorate to set a date to hear the Traveller and Gypsy appeal against the enforcement of the refusal for retrospective planning permission for thirteen residential caravan pitches on the land off Culhams Mill, we thought we should share some news which we found encouraging.

Many of you will be aware of the unauthorised Traveller encampment in Cufaude Lane, Bramley.  To varying extents there has been unauthorised residential development on this land since 2014.  Development has increased significantly over the last two years and there are now a number of caravans, mobile homes and other buildings established there.  The case finally went in front of the Planning Inspectorate in April this year and the Inspector has published his decision on Tuesday this week.

The twenty two page report can be seen at  https://tinyurl.com/CLAppeal and the full history of the case can be found on the BDBC planning portal at  https://tinyurl.com/CL-BDBCDOCS

We won’t make an attempt to summarise the entire report but the conclusion is that the appeal has been refused and a requirement has been placed upon the occupiers to vacate the site within the next twelve months.  If the occupiers remain longer than this then BDBC is within its rights to pursue enforcement and subsequent eviction.  Key planning issues that were considered were the location on a flood plain, the visual impact, the impact on highways, intentional unauthorised development and the lack of other available sites.  It seems that the deciding factor in the Inspector’s decision was the fact that the site is located on a flood plain.  We believe that this will have significant consequences for the Silchester site as it is located directly adjacent to Silchester Brook and the field has a history of flooding.

We will continue to keep you posted on any further developments.

Regards

Steve Spillane, Simon Mahaffey and the team.

Calleva Society

callevasociety@gmail.com
www.callevasociety.org or to donate https://callevasociety.org/make-a-donation/

Simon has been elected as the Basingstoke and Deane Borough Councillor for the Pamber and Silchester Ward and has resigned as Chairman of Silchester Parish Council in order to spend the time required on the Borough job.

Simon recently attended a meeting in Sherfield Park where the subject of discussion was a recently authorised traveller pitch at Dixon Road, Sherfield on Loddon. see link below

The history of the Dixon road site was similar to our site in Silchester insofar as the site was unlawfully occupied over a weekend (including the destruction of over 200 trees) and then a retrospective planning application was submitted to BDBC. The application was for a three caravan site however, after being turned down by the planning officers at Basingstoke, a revised application for one caravan (plus an associated day room) was submitted. The revised application was also turned down by the local planning team. The concerning thing, however, is that the application was
then approved when it went to appeal at the planning inspectorate. The Inspector cited the fact that Basingstoke and Deane have, thus far, failed to deliver on the traveller sites that have been allocated within the Local Plan. Although regrettable, this failure is not actually the fault of the Council as it is reliant upon local developers to bring forward the developments that have been proposed and approved. As it stands, these sites are not on track and subsequently the Inspector found in favour of the applicant.

The potential impact of this finding on the Silchester application is undoubtedly a matter of some concern. Simon has been discussing this with planning advisers and we remain confident that the Silchester site still has several significant planning reasons that make it unsuitable for planning
approval. We understand that the planning inspectorate is currently short of Inspectors which is causing a significant backlog in cases being brought forward for hearing. At this stage we remain uncertain about when the appeal against the enforcement at Silchester site will be heard. In the
meantime, it appears that the Silchester site has been closed back up again with an earth mound having been replaced across the entrance.

Whilst Simon was representing the Calleva Society at the meeting it was encouraging to note that it was also attended by five other Borough Councillors and one Hampshire County Councillor. This gives some indication of how significantly the issue of traveller settlements in Basingstoke has risen up the agenda and the Council are working hard on attempting to bring planned sites forward for development.

We will continue to monitor the Silchester site as well as other developments in the Borough and keep you informed if things change.

Finally we have submitted our claim for costs of the cancelled appeal against the planning determination and await the outcome……….

Simon Mahaffey & Steve Spillane
Calleva Society
Email callevasociety@gmail.com
Web https://callevasociety.org/