§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if it is his policy, that where a local authority has refused permission for houses to be built on a greenfield site for use by local people, the local authority should not allow a gipsy or travellers' site to be established on that land. [31890]
§ Mr. CabornThe Department's Circular 1/94 "Gypsy Sites and Planning" gives local authorities advice about the planning aspects of sites for gipsy caravans. The Circular puts gipsies on the same level in planning law as everyone else. It is designed to ensure that applications for gipsy caravan sites are treated in the same way as any other form of development. Each application for planning permission is decided on its own merit in the light of its individual circumstances. It is for each local planning authority to decide what may be an appropriate gipsy site policy for their area.
§ Mr. SayeedTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions if he will make a statement on the planning application for a gipsy site on land where permission to build houses has previously been refused at Chapel End Road, Houghton Conquest, Bedfordshire. [31891]
§ Mr. CabornThe application was determined by Mid Bedfordshire District Council on 24 February and has been refused.