ALMOST 15 years after they first arrived on a Headley Down site, a group of travelling showpeople are again fighting for permission to remain at their home permanently.

A planning application has been submitted for the land at Fairlands, on the Headley Down/Grayshott border, which has been the subject of controversy over the years.

The travelling showpeople are seeking planning permission to remain on the site permanently after a series of temporary permissions over the years.

It is something which they had been granted planning permission for in 2002 but legal problems have caused a headache and have forced the residents at Fairlands off Grayshott Road to again seek permission.

The previous permission was granted with the proviso that a legal agreement was drawn up and signed but the deadline of January this year elapsed before anything was signed.

This means that the group have again to seek planning permission to remain on the site and have resubmitted their successful planning application which has to again go through the planning process.

However, planning manager Ian Ellis told The Herald that the legal agreement had been put together and has been submitted along with the application - preventing a reoccurrence of the delay.

The application is again the subject of public consultation and will be discussed by both Grayshott and Headley parish councils before East Hampshire District Council makes the final decision.

In 2002 when the previous application was discussed huge controversy surrounded the plans.

Fifteen letters of objection were sent to EHDC along with four letters of support. The Headley Down Residents' Association questioned the group and overwhelming favoured them being given temporary permission to allow time to either find a new home or refuse permission altogether.

At the time councillors were presented with three option: refuse permission, grant temporary permission or grant permanent permission.

They agreed that refusing permission could not be justified but were at odds as to whether granting temporary permission or permanent permission was the right thing to do.

Councillors in favour of a temporary permission pointed out that Fairlands forms part of an important gap between Grayshott and Headley Down and that everything should be done to retain it.

However those in favour of granting permanent permission pointed out that a search for an alternative home for the showpeople had been ongoing for years and that there was no guarantee that a suitable one would crop up in the future.

Eventually permanent permission was granted on a majority vote.

Anyone wishing to comment on the plans should sent their views to East Hampshire District Council in Petersfield.