Families living in an ultra-exclusive spot of the Chiltern Hills have claimed their house prices could plummet over ‘monstrous’ plans to extend a traveller site next to their homes.
Residents of Nettlebed in south Oxfordshire were left incensed by the actions of a group of travellers who completed work illegally on a site in the quaint village.
The angry locals believe the group is now hellbent on ‘destroying’ an area of outstanding natural beauty and will ‘ignore’ the enforcement notice.
They have also claimed the behaviour of the group will cause their property value – with homes currently selling for an average of £800k – to tumble.
Tension between the communities grew earlier this year, when locals say a small group of travellers set up a makeshift camp at the edge of the village.
Families claim that anti-social behaviour including littering, late night fires, petty thefts and intimidations then followed.
The drama was amplified in July, after new access, hard standing and a static caravan home and fencing appeared at the traveller site.
A retrospective planning application to South Oxfordshire District Council for land near Nettlebed was submitted and then denied this week, but neighbours fear the saga will rumble on.
Residents of Nettlebed in south Oxfordshire say they were left incensed by the actions of a group of travellers who completed work illegally on a site
Some people believe the group is now hellbent on ‘destroying’ an area of outstanding natural beauty and will ‘ignore’ the enforcement notice
The application specified the site was intended for agricultural grazing for horses, a caravan site to provide ‘residential accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers’ comprising a single family pitch of one static caravan, one touring caravan as well as parking and infrastructure.
Council officials refused it, saying the plan was an ‘unacceptable encroachment into the open countryside’.
When the Daily Mail visited the site this week, we found the encampment consisted of one house and one caravan with a central circle of dirt in a neighboring field and signs of tyre marks on the green grass.
However, residents fear more illegal work could appear and travellers would simply ‘totally ignore’ the council decision.
One woman in her 40s who lives in the village, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Why would they want to live in such an area?
‘I enjoy walking out there, sometimes on my own and sometimes with friends. It’s put me off. I don’t want to go out there alone and I submitted that as an objection.
‘It’s scary. This will ruin our house prices. I don’t believe they’ll just accept the findings of this decision as well. They carried out illegal work, what is to say that won’t happen again?’
Another said: ‘I fear they will totally ignore this. It’s disgraceful what they did. They left such a mess.’
When the Daily Mail visited and droned the contested site this week, images showed that the encampment consisted of one house and one caravan
Brian Atherton, 68, who lives nearby said the plans were ‘monstrous’.
He said: ‘I am appalled. The rubbish which had been left was awful. The noise of the work was appalling. It was carried out at weekends and outside any 9-5 period, to cause as much upset as possible and it was outside of council hours.
‘We don’t want this here. It’s an area of outstanding natural beauty. My house is worth £600,000. If this camp was to get the go-ahead, I’d be reduced to £400,000, in my opinion.’
One local, submitting an objection to council bosses, accused the site owner of being ‘hostile’.
They said: ‘Work has been carried out after daylight hours at various times of the day, generators are constantly running presumably providing power to the caravans already on the site and those that will be coming and going down the single width lane onto which the gates have been placed.
‘Lights are always left on flouting any notion of a dark skies area. The owner seems to have no regard for either planning processes or the consideration of those who will be his neighbours. He has been hostile to various inquiries of passers by.’
Another local said: ‘Where do these things end? The rubbish left there while they were carrying out their work was terrible.
‘They have absolutely no respect for the land. There’s been fires. People are terrified as well.’
The council received 90 objections from locals and those responding to the latest plans.
A proposal from the same applicant for a stable block on the site was refused by the council last year and dismissed by a planning inspector this year.
A source close to the travellers behind the application said there was no need for locals to feel unsafe.
The source also said they had installed waste bins to dispose of any rubbish at the site.
They did not want to comment further.
