Start of big expansion of traveller site to get under way

Richard Youle – Local Democracy Reporter

A significant expansion of a travellers’ site which could apparently create “some fascinating streetscenes” will get under way thanks to a £116,185 grant from the Welsh Government.

The money will fund a perimeter fence enlarging the site at Mill Stream Way, Llansamlet, in in Swansea and the start of a new access road.

Council cabinet members were told at a meeting on October 24 that new pitches and other facilities would follow in due course, subject to planning and further Welsh Government grants.

Court ruling

The Mill Stream Way site came into being just over a decade ago after moving from an area nearby where a multi-million flood defence project took place.

The sites were unauthorised but “tolerated” following a court ruling, but that changed in 2023 with the Mill Stream Way land gaining a certificate of lawful of development because it had been used as a travellers’ site for 10 years or more.

Shortly after the 2023 decision the council applied to change the use of the land needed to extend the site, and the authority’s planning department gave it the go-ahead last December.

A design and access statement on the council’s behalf said the existing travellers’ site had four pitches and would be enlarged to accommodate up to 24 pitches, covering an area of some four acres.

Design

It said each pitch would have a toilet/washing block with solar panels and also two parking spaces.

It added that each toilet/washing block would have the same design, which it said would complement existing buildings and “provide an opportunity for some fascinating streetscenes”.

Environment body Natural Resources Wales (NRW) objected to the change of use application, saying it didn’t fully comply with flood risk policy and that the model for a flood assessment submitted on the council’s behalf was “deficient”.

There were five objections from the public who claimed among things that waste was dumped and burned at the site, which is part of a larger site of importance for nature conservation.

Planning officers did not accept the flood assessment model was deficient and said the application was in their view acceptable in terms of flood risk.

They added that the behaviour of people living on the site was beyond the remit of planning legislation.

Funding

The officers’ decision said that while the land was not specifically allocated for a travellers’ site in the council’s development plan, it would meet an identified need for additional accommodation.

The permission came with several conditions relating to things like ecology, flood mitigation and drainage, which the council needs to work through.

Speaking at the cabinet meeting, deputy council leader Cllr Andrea Lewis said the £116,185 would need to be spent this financial year.

She said the planning and other measures taken thus far would “allow the site to be significantly extended in size” but that further Welsh Government funding would be required.