Travellers' caravans on Hagley green belt land sparks enforcement investigation
A council has confirmed an enforcement investigation has got underway after complaints about unauthorised development on the green belt on the edge of Hagley.
Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Bromsgrove District Council has said officers are investigating reports of work taking place on a pony paddock off Wassell Grove Lane where a number of caravans have parked up.
A previous planning application, submitted back in August 2020 by Augustus Quinn on behalf of a family of travellers, sought to turn the field into a small gypsy and traveller caravan site comprising two pitches.
The proposal, however, was withdrawn in November 2023 after the Government's Planning Inspectorate dismissed an appeal made by Mr Quinn against enforcement action taken by the district council over unauthorised building works on the land.
A further plan to change the land to equestrian use, retain stables and hardstanding and make alterations to vehicle access was later lodged with district council planners in March 2024 and subsequently withdrawn in May 2024.
Activity, however, has been witnessed by locals in recent days, with trucks reportedly seen delivering aggregate and a collection of caravans parked up on the land.
Concerns about unauthorised development of the countryside plot of land, located opposite Wassell Grove Business Centre, have prompted the district council to intervene again.
A spokesperson for the local authority said: "A planning enforcement investigation regarding matters at this site is live and ongoing."
More than 240 people lodged objections to the plan to create a facility for travellers on the site, which sits within the green belt, saying it would spoil the countryside.
Planning documents said the land was owned at the time of the application by the Quinn family - a family with "an ongoing nomadic habit of life travelling between sites around the Midlands and occasionally abroad for work" and the site was needed to provide a home due to a shortage of council pitches in the area.
A local councillor, however, this week told the Express & Star it is not known who the present landowner is.
