FOR CYRIL AND ELAINE GOSLING

NATIONALLY there is a serious under provision of pitches for gipsies with a 3,500-4,000 shortage, 145 in Devon and 69 in Teignbridge, Brian Cox told the inquiry. Representing appellants Cyril and Elaine Gosling, owners of The Stables, in Marsh Lane, Mr Cox said that in the past nine months with the closing of the Pottery Road site in Bovey Tracey, the situation for gipsy pitches had become worse. Maggie Smith-Bendell, a romany gipsy liaison officer, said there was a dire need for pitches in Teignbridge. 'An assessment of the needs in this area is being carried out by close friends of mine at the University of Plymouth. 'When that comes out in the autumn I think it is going to be quite a shock to the council,' she said. Mrs Smith-Bendell said Cyril Gosling jnr, who had to move onto the site, could not afford a mobile home as suggested at the inquiry. He had a static holiday caravan which could be bought at the end of a summer season for between £3,000 and £5,000, while a proper mobile home would cost in the region of £50,000. 'There is a big difference in what people can afford and what they cannot afford. 'The family has been in this area for five generations and wants to remain,' she said. Mrs Smith-Bendell pointed out that the site got three approvals from planning officers but was turned down at committee stage. Cyril Gosling jnr, 24, said that with his wife Joanne and brother-in-law Peter Ayres, they occupied The Stables, Marsh Lane, land owned by his mother and father. He said he lived in bricks and mortar until he was 17, but wanted to follow the romany life. Working with Mr Ayres as a landscape gardener, they travelled around the country in touring caravans looking for work, as well as regularly attending fairs. He continued that Mr Ayres was married to his sister Emma and they had a six-months-old son and because Emma was of a nervous disposition and concerned that the council would try to force them out, she was staying with her mother-in-law in a mobile home in Southampton. 'We have applied for a mobile home on the land and if we were granted permission, she would be able to move in with her son and husband and receive the post-natal care she needs,' he said. Mr Gosling jnr said that together with his sister and his wife they regularly helped their mother and grandmother, who both suffered from serious illnesses and lived on Bovey Tracey's Brimley Gardens site. Mr Gosling snr said the building on the site housed small machinery, a work bench, general small tools, a digger and a quad bike. He said that when the Pottery Road site was sold they knew their son and family would have to go. They had gone to the council, which said there was nowhere else and they had moved on to the land in September last year. 'We had consultation with the council all the way. We have also been to estate agents looking for land and advertised. 'We have never been difficult with the council or aggressive with them,' said Mr Gosling snr, which added they did not want two touring caravans, but two caravans to live in. 'You cannot pull a residential caravan up the road,' he said. Cross-examined by Peter Wadsley QC representing Mr and Mrs Hall, Mr Gosling snr said the Pottery Road, Bovey Tracey site, had been sold. Mr Wadsley: 'They were people regarded as gipsies who had got rid of a perfectly good gipsy site. They sold it when they could have let it remain as a gipsy site,' he maintained. Regarding the complaints, Mr Gosling snr said some of the horses escaped 'apparently' and he had erected stock fences. An arsonist had set fire to a grass stack in the field and had ruined it. He had then, with advice from the district council, burned it off in small amounts at a time. Mr Gosling snr said he had filled in an ancient pond on the site because of dangers to the children. Asked by Mr Wadsley why he had allowed his son to move to the site when planning permission was refused, he replied that a lot of applications were retrospective and that is what gipsies had to do. 'I am trying to be truthful,' he stated. Mark Marshall, of Oxencombe Springs, Old Exeter Road, Chudleigh, said the Goslings should be allowed to get on with their lives and live at The Stables. 'I want to see fairness and commonsense prevail,' he said.

OBJECTING

ELIZABETH Hall, who, with her husband, Alexander, bought Silverton House, Marsh Lane, Harcombe, in March 2002, kept diaries of the problems and between February 2 and May 26, 2003, noted a bonfire burning on 38 days. In a statement she said they faced: l Within days of purchasing the property horses and goats escaping into their land from the Gosling's site, damaging their fence and rear door, leaving faeces over the drive and patio and hoof prints on the lawn. l Mr Gosling snr threatening to cut off utilities to the house and 'block our right to light'. l Mr Gosling snr erecting an approximately two-metre high featherboard fence along the boundary and numerous laurel bushes being trampled and subsequently dying. l Nails found in the grass and the couple bought a metal detector and recovered more than 50 from the lawn near the fence. l A further incursion by the horses in which the fence was damaged. l Fires from June 2002. l On August 29, 2002, thick black smoke was emanating from a fenced area at The Stables, with a strong tar-like smell. l Goats and a horse again escaping into the gardens of Silverton House after damaging the fence. l Repairs to the fence paid by the Hall's had never been reimbursed. l Often work starting at 8am on the site. Mrs Hall highlighted that at the development control meeting she had been described as 'anti-gipsy' by Elaine Gosling. 'I found this thoroughly offensive, particularly as we are not seeking to gain anything and I was not even afforded the courtesy of a chance to refute such an allegation by the chairman of the committee. 'I am not anti-gipsy and neither is my husband,' she said. Her husband Alexander said they now found themselves in the situation where they had been forced to leave their home, in the area in which their relatives reside and where they had hoped to raise a family. 'We now have to run two houses, one of which is now not saleable, yet is also impossible for us to live in. 'The appellants and the owners of the land have made great play of the fact that they claim to be gipsies. From our point of view, this has no bearing. Our objection to this application is based on planning law, policy and regulation, both locally and nationally. 'While the appellants' assert that their status should afford them exemption from law and policy, we believe that all should be bound by the same set of rules,' said Mr Hall. Teignbridge Council planning officer Ian Perry said he had always been under the impression it was for two caravans, now it was two families in two statics and two touring. Mr Perry who had recommended approval to the committee said he had been dealing with it on the basis of two individual caravans and if he had known it was four, his recommendation might have been different. Devon County Council highways officer Stephen Harding contended that even with an acceptable access arrangement the site was considered to be non-sustainable in highway terms. Planning consultant Mr A S Doyle, for Mr and Mrs Hall, said the site was outside the development area and in an area of great landscape value where new residential development was strictly controlled and it was contrary to the development plan. 'Allowing it could lead to an abuse of the system and lead to sporadic development in the countryside,' said Mr Doyle. Among conditions put to the inspector Roger Priestley, should he decide to grant the appeals, were landscaping, a layout plan of the caravans, ancillary structures and lighting, no more than two residential caravans in habitation and no more than two touring caravans can be stored on the site, and a three-year temporary condition to be imposed. Council solicitor Duncan Moors said the district authority urged that both temporary and permanent conditions were resisted and the appeals were refused. In his summing up Mr Wadsley said the problems stemmed from the loss of the Pottery Way site. 'It was lost as a result of market forces where gipsies converted a viable gipsy site, or allowed it to be converted, to one where gipsies were effectively excluded. 'It is a factor that should be borne in mind when considering the weight to be attached to the need issue,' said Mr Wadsley. Mr Priestley, who visited the site during and after the inquiry, will announce his decision later.