Minutes:
Councillor K. Bright asked Councillor Everitt the following question:
“I welcome the forthcoming public consultation on the provision of a site and facilities for the Gypsy & Traveller community. This is the right thing to do for some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
However – at January’s O&S Panel and subsequent cabinet meeting, the history of the decision making process for choosing this site was unclear.
Can the leader confirm:
Whether any work was done to explore the suitability of land at Shottendane Road for use as a potential Gypsy and Traveller site between June 2021 and May 2023?
Whether officers and cabinet members visited the site and if so – when?
Whether the site was then discounted for such use or whether it was considered thereafter as a viable option?”
Councillor Everitt responded with the following key points:
· Work to find a suitable site began in 2019, when a cross-party sub-group of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel considered five possible site options.
· In July 2020, Cabinet considered a list of 14 different sites in the district, each of which was scored by officers according to ten different criteria. Shottendane Road was rated the most suitable, against these criteria. This information is publicly available.
· It should be noted that the former Ramsgate Hoverport was included in this process and not deemed a viable location. It was ranked fifth out of five sites considered by a cross-party sub-group of the Overview and Scrutiny Panel in November 2019 and, 14th out of 14 sites considered in the officer report to Cabinet in July 2020. It was therefore taken out of consideration.
· This was on the basis of it being in an obvious flood risk, located next to a nationally protected area of high environmental sensitivity, and consists of hardstanding, unsuitable for children’s play. It also offers limited access to services.
· Following a further report to Cabinet in September 2020 it was decided to bring the matter forward as part of the planned review of the Thanet Local Plan, which has statutory consultation processes, is subject to government inspection, and has the advantage of considering future land use across the district in the round.
· A subsequent public “call for sites” in 2021 as part of the Local Plan review process, produced no submissions from landowners for sites for the Gypsy and Traveller community. The Local Plan review has also been delayed, first by uncertainty around the future of Manston airport and then by government changes to national planning policy.
· Work continued between 2021 and 2023, under the previous administration, and that the previous cabinet visited a number of sites on 23 May 2022, including both the land at Shottendane Road and a site off of Highfield Road. The previous Cabinet subsequently removed the land at Highfield Road from consideration, when it took a formal decision on 2 March 2023 to transfer this land into the council’s Housing Revenue Account for the delivery of new affordable homes.
Councillor Bright followed up his question by asking whether the council would work with current tenants to ensure that the majority of land remaining would remain viable to agricultural land.
Councillor Everitt responded, noting that this was the Council’s plan.