COUNCILS across south Worcestershire are putting forward sites which can be used by travellers.
Malvern Hills District, Worcester City and Wychavon councils need to provide 59 traveller pitches and eight travelling showpeople plots by 2030 to meet demand.
Wychavon needs to provide 37 of these but has already approved 21 since January 2019.
Malvern Hills District needs to provide 19 traveller pitches and eight travelling showpeople plots and Worcester City two pitches.
The Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan: Preferred Options document, sets out where some of these sites are proposed to be developed.
Those in the Malvern Hills will provide three pitches at Hillbee Farm, Welland Road and Upton-upon-Severn, six of Wychavon’s will be at Hughes Barn, Bretforton Road, Badsey, five at The Orchard, Knowle Hill, Evesham and two at Blossom Hill, Village Street, Aldington.
No sites are currently planned for Worcester City but there is now a shortfall across all three council areas which will need to be met through applications coming through the standard planning process.
The council said finding sites had been challenging.
A call for people to put forward potential sites in October last year resulted in 10 suggestions which were all assessed and considered unsuitable.
Landowners and agents who put forward land as part of the South Worcestershire Development Plan were also contacted, but none wanted their land considered for a Travelller or Travelling Showpeople site.
A seven-week consultation on the document is planned to run from March 1 to April 19, if approved by all three councils.
Coun Lucy Hodgson, Chair of the South Worcestershire Development Plan Joint Advisory Panel, said: “It is important we make provision for the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople community not only to make sure they have access to the same services as the settled community, but to reduce the risk of unauthorised or inappropriate sites being developed.”
She urged – once it had been published – people read the document in full, took part in the consultation and ensured they had their say.
Visit www.swdevelopmentplan.org for more details.
