Traveller family enter fresh plans to build homes in Soham

A Soham family has entered fresh plans to build two bungalows for travellers on the edge of the town – just a year after previous plans for the site were rejected.

Mrs and Mrs William Tidd, of Qua Fen Common, applied to East Cambridgeshire District Council back in December 2012 to clear a half-acre patch of land at Long Dolver Drove and convert it into two traveller sites for their family.

Mr Tidd, whose family has lived in Soham for more than 40 years, told planners that his family had continued to grow in recent years and he needed to move to help accommodate them.

Despite his pleas, however, the council rejected the plans, stating in its report that that access to the site was poor and the site unsuitable.

Now, a year on from the decision, and in spite of a successful appeal to the Planning Inspectorate, the family has again approached council planners, this time for permission to build two detached, three-bedroom bungalows and garaging for travellers on former arable land in Long Dolver Drove.

Agents acting for the family said that the development “would not have little impact on the surrounding highways network”.

An independent environmental report commissioned by the family to examine the land involved in the application came back with no adverse findings.

Argyll Environmental, which carried out the report, said that the risk of the application “was not such that the property would be designated “contaminated land” within the meaning of part 2A of the Environmental Protection Act 1990.”

A decision on the plans is expected within the next eight weeks. To view the plans, or to have a say, visit www.eastcambs.gov.uk