Travellers Appeal High Court Order to Leave Site

Gypsy travellers told to quit an illegal site near the AWE Aldermaston bomb factory have lodged an appeal, days before a court deadline to move on.

A High Court judge ordered those who set up in breach of an injunction to leave the site by October 5.

An Enforcement Notice challenged at the planning inspector says the land was used as a residential caravan site by Gypsy/Traveller households and for operational development - a change from agricultural use.

The notice requires them to permanently stop using the land for residential purposes, remove caravans and vehicles (including touring caravans, static mobile homes, motorhomes, horse boxes and trailers) and clear items linked to occupation.

That list includes domestic furniture, children's play equipment, bicycles, storage units, laundry kit, generators, gas bottles, oil tanks, water bowsers, cables, pipes, portable toilets, septic infrastructure, rubbish, pallets, timber and other stored materials. Fences must be removed, vehicle entrances blocked and the land reinstated.

Appellant John Jude O'Brien says planning permission should be granted and contests the notice, arguing the required steps are excessive and lesser actions would resolve the objections.

Before the High Court ruling, hundreds of locals signed a petition, warning they were "anxious" and "fearing for their safety".

West Berkshire Council issued a temporary stop notice in November after a planning application was lodged, but work continued. Despite an extension into January, the site grew to at least 22 pitches, the judgment said.

Tom Bennington, a senior civil servant within the Defence Nuclear Organisation, told the court that rising population density near the facility was placing its operations under mounting strain.

Niki Hinman, Local Democracy Reporter