6:48pm Tuesday 13th July 2010
By Rebecca Cain
TRAVELLERS asked a planning inspector to “have a heart” as the beginning of the public inquiry into the site at Hemley Hill, near Saunderton, began today.
Eight travellers spoke to the inquiry, arranged by the planning inspectorate, including one mother who said she needed to stay to get medical help for her daughter who is blind and has a brain tumour.
Planning inspector, Alan Upward, will consider the travellers' appeals against the enforcement notice given by Wycombe District Council in September and the refusal of planning permission for nine gypsy and traveller pitches at the site.
Kathleen Murphy, 52, lives on the site with her two children Margaret, 25, who is blind and son Patrick, 16.
She said: “I don't want to live with a lot of rough people who could do harm to Margaret. I wouldn't want to go into any camp site if I thought the company wasn't right.”
Mrs Murphy said Margaret has continuous medical appointments as she has a brain tumour and needs to be in the same place and asked the inspector to “have a heart” when considering the appeal.
She said they had tried to live in a house but felt “locked in”. She said at Hemley Hill everyone is related and looks after each other.
The travellers, who have gypsy status, moved in over the Easter weekend last year while the council were on holiday and the council then got a High Court injunction banning further work.
Many of the group had stayed at the Wapseys Wood site but said they would not go back as it had a “bad reputation.”
Patrick Hanrahan, 60, said he had put “everything he had” to buy the site which they got together and bought for £10,000.
He said he is in Buckinghamshire for four months of the year and it would be “terrible if we couldn't live there.”
William Harris, 20, who has a three-year-old daughter said he wants to be able to give his child an education.
He said: “I wouldn't want her to grow up like me. I want her to have an education. I want her to read and write so if she goes to the next town I want her to be able to read the signs- I can't do that.”
Representing the travellers, Alan Masters, said 71 per cent of the district is in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and 48 per cent in Green Belt so it is “not surprising” any gypsy site in the district is in the AONB and Green Belt, as the Hemley Hill site is.
He said in the council's consultation to find gypsy sites they put forward two sites at Studley Green and Stokenchurch which are both in AONB and one in the Green Belt.
He said the authority had a “poor record” in allocating gypsy sites and there was “no where else” for the group to go at the current time.
Robin Green, who is representing WDC, said in his opening statement that the “unlawfully developed land” is harmful to the “openness and purpose of the Green Belt.”
He said: “It also harms the natural beauty of the area, including the setting of the Ridgway Path, comprising the objectives of the AONB”.
He said it would lead to increased pressure on the local infrastructure and when the camp site was set up there were a number of places available at Wapseys Wood.
The inquiry is expected to last until Friday where the council and the Hemley Hill Action Group will call their own witnesses.
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