Travellers site approved for 'temporary' summer use

A Gypsy and traveller site for up to 25 units has been approved for "temporary" summer use only.

The 2.25 hectare plot on the south eastern edge of the Enterprise Park at the former Piddlehinton army camp in Dorset was previously granted by Dorset Council as a temporary measure for three years.

But the consent will now become permanent, without the need to renew. It will be used from 1 April until the end of September, reverting to grazing for the rest of the year.

Piddle Valley Parish Council had raised no objection to the permanent permission for the site, subject to conditions including the use of CCTV when there are more than two caravans on site.

The site is separate from a permanent year-round Gypsy and traveller site in the village.

Its use for travellers goes back to 2012 when temporary permission was granted at the time of the Olympics.

Another permission followed in 2014 for a Gypsy site for up to 25 caravans for six months of the year.

In June 2016, the first of several three-year "temporary" uses was agreed for April to September, as required.

Since 2020 the site has only been used infrequently – for eights nights in total during 2021, 18 in 2022, 33 in 2023 and not at all in 2024.

Legally the council has an obligation to provide sites for Gypsies and travellers as part of its Local Plan.

The site is only expected to be use when police enact their powers over unauthorised encampments and, even then, only for short periods.

Most of the uses recorded have been when travellers have been evicted from sites they occupied in Weymouth, apart from 12 caravans moved on from the Ferndown area in March 2022.

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