WAVERLEY Council has lost a nine-year battle to prevent gypsies living on a Runfold site, after an appeal inspector ruled that to do so could be contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights. The inspector, Lucy Drake, upheld an appeal by John Mitchell against the council's refusal of planning consent for the use of land at Old Bridge Road as a gypsy caravan site and retention of a stable block. In her report, the inspector found that to dismiss the appeal could cause homelessness to the four generations of Mr Mitchell's family who live on the site, including his 86-year-old grandmother who is in poor health. "The enforced adoption of an itinerant, roadside existence would be both highly unsatisfactory for them and contrary to national policy objectives aimed at meeting the needs of gypsies and travellers." Ms Drake said that the significant interference with the appellant's home and family life outweighed the limited harm to the character and appearance of the area, which lies in the "strategic gap" between Farnham and Aldershot. She suggested the dismissal of the appeal would be contrary to Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights and referred to the family as "an accepted and well-liked part of the community". The inspector arrived at her decision following a three-day planning inquiry and a visit to the site, which is off a lane left as a cul-de-sac following the building of the A31 diversion and close to two authorised gypsy sites. At the inquiry, evidence was given that in April 1997 Waverley Council secured an injunction against former owners of the land, requiring them to cease using it as a caravan site. John Mitchell's father then bought it for £4,000, in the hope that it might provide a settled site for the family. John Mitchell later purchased it from his father for £2,000, moving onto it with his wife in 2000 and submitting a planning application to regularise the use. The application and a subsequent appeal were both refused, as was an appeal against enforcement action. But since that time, the council had taken no further formal enforcement action, the inspector observed. Three children had been born to the couple and John Mitchell's parents, his brother and sister and grandmother had joined them on the site. Planning consent was being sought for three mobile homes and three touring caravans. The inquiry was told something of the lifestyle of the gypsy family, which currently owns 13 horses kept on rented land. Mr Mitchell, with his father, was said to make half his income from landscaping/gardening and the remainder from breeding and dealing in horses, attending traditional horse fairs around the country to buy and sell. Making the necessary assessment of whether their occupation of the Runfold would have any effect on the Special Protection Area for rare birds at Hale, the inspector found the family less likely than most to use the SPA for recreational purposes. For Mr Mitchell had indicated his main form of recreation was driving his horses with a cart on the roads around Elstead, Tilford and Rushmoor. Asked about exercising of his two dogs, he explained that they roam the site at night as guard dogs. The inspector was told that both Mr Mitchell's mother and grandmother were in poor health, needing access to medical care. His grandmother, now 86, could only walk with a Zimmer frame, had osteoporosis, Parkinson's disease, depression and hearing difficulties. Ms Drake said Waverley Council accepted at the inquiry that the most likely outcome of the appeal being dismissed was that the family would be forced "back on the road". But she commented: "This would have very serious consequences for their ability to earn money, keep and/or care for their horses and, most importantly, provide for the day-to-day needs of the elderly, young and sick members of the family and their access to educational and medical facilities and services." In granting planning consent, the inspector imposed conditions limiting occupation of the site to those currenly living there and their resident dependents and limiting the number of caravans to six, of which no more than three may be a static caravan or mobile home.
