A GYPSY family has controversially been granted permission to stay on an unauthorised caravan pitch for the next two years.

Hambleton District Council refused retrospective planning permission for the family’s caravan pitch at Rosie’s Ranch on Busby Lane, Great Busby.

The site already has a timber-clad static caravan on it that had no permission to be there.

After being refused retrospective permission, the family appealed to the government’s Planning Inspectorate and they have now been allowed to stay on the site for two-years.

The Inspectorate did acknowledge that the pitch posed “a real and serious harm to the open countryside” but said that the family’s personal circumstances were “pivotal” in the decision to allow them to stay on the site.

The council had already issued an enforcement notice to evict the family, but in giving the new permission, the Planning Inspectorate quashed that action.

In the appeal report, inspector A U Ghafoor said that the needs of the family - including a child with Down’s Syndrome - plus the need to provide suitable accommodation for gypsies were factors in allowing retrospective permission.

Mr Ghafoor states: “Refusing temporary planning permission right now might lead to eviction thus forcing the family to a roadside existence.

“Such an outcome is neither conducive to Mr Stephenson or his dependants’ educational needs, it will hinder medical and health requirements and the family’s well-being, nor is it appropriate to a family life.”

Mr Ghafoor says that the harm to the environment caused by the development is mitigated by it being temporary.

After the two-year period - or if the family leave before then - all caravans, structures, materials and equipment, plus work undertaken connected to the development, must be removed and the land restored to its original condition.

The appeal decision will not please the objectors who expressed their unhappiness when the application was first made last year.

Many complained that a proliferation of caravan sites in the area was affecting the rural nature of the landscape and that unauthorised developments must be stopped.

Others called the existing site an “eyesore” and said that the council’s most recent traveller housing needs survey did not state any need for more gypsy provision.