Councillors are expected to rubber-stamp a planning application to extend a travellers’ caravan site in Hartwood.
The applicant, Mr Hughie Reid, is proposing to permanently change the use of land at the site at Foulburn Farm to form an additional residential caravan pitch, containing a principal chalet, three touring caravans and two amenity blocks.
The main chalet and an amenity block, ancillary touring caravan, and fencing are already in place, so the application is largely retrospective, but the plans also show an adjacent part of the site next to the railway line being laid out as an ancillary pitch for two further ancillary touring caravans with their own amenity block.
Council officers have recommended in a report going before North Lanarkshire Council's planning committee that permission for the change of use be granted.
An assessment of the application going before councillors on the committee next week (Thursday, October 14) acknowledges it is contrary to the local development plan.
However, there is reasoned justification for granting planning permission as there is an acknowledged need for additional sites of this type.
The site, which is approximately 0.4 hectares of rural land, contains one residential caravan pitch with a chalet-style mobile home, an amenity block and a storage shed along with associated parking and an area of rough ground, located within the countryside 1km north west of Allanton.
The site's residents are members of the Gypsy/Traveller community and the pitch is a family home.
The site is accessed from Foulburn Road by way of a track leading through a neighbouring site which has two residential pitches and a stables block. This adjacent site used for access has existed for over a decade.
While there were no neighbours that required notification of the planning application it was advertised in the local press and North Lanarkshire Council received no representations.
The report also states there is no impact on surrounding properties as there are no properties in close proximity to the site, and there is ample parking.
North Lanarkshire no longer has any publicly provided sites for Gypsy/Traveller communities but local authorities are required under Scottish Planning Policy to plan for the current and future needs of these communities.
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