Travellers have launched a bid to erect a caravan site on “sacred grounds” near a Grade II listed church tower sparking furious locals to brand the plan “destructive”.
South Gloucestershire Council’s development management committee voted to reject the retrospective planning application for land on Northwick Road, Pilning.
The proposed development was for three mobile homes, two touring caravans, one dayroom and a utility block on the site, located near the Church of St Thomas.
The local authority concluded the public benefits of the plans would “not be outweighed” by the harm it would impose to the area.
It said: “The proposed development, by reason of its siting, would result in less than substantial harm to the setting of the Grade II listed Tower of the Church of St Thomas, through the introduction of development and activity into its setting.
“This would be harmful to the rural tranquillity and experience of the listed building.”
The Environment Agency had also previously recommended the application be refused because of its potential flood risk.
In a heritage statement submitted as part of the plans, the applicants argued there would be a “low level of less than substantial harm” to the church tower.
Chapel Orchard is considered ‘sacred grounds’ by local residents
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It read: “It is found that the proposal does have the potential to cause a low level of less than substantial harm to the significance of the Grade II listed tower of the church of St Thomas, because of the potential for glimpses of the pitches through hedges and because of the potential of light at night.”
Local resident Olga Taylor, who has carried out research into the site, told a meeting of the council’s development management committee the land was “sacred”.
She said: “For 700 years, 30 generations, Northwick residents have preserved Chapel Orchard.
“The name itself, Chapel Orchard, has survived for centuries because people understood what this land was – sacred land…This wasn’t just farmland, this was God’s provision for his church.
“Pilning and Severn Beach Parish Council is currently spending approximately £15,000 restoring St Thomas’s tower, which overlooks this orchard.
“We are investing in heritage – while you are being asked to destroy it.”
Parish council clerk, Jonathan Edwards, added that there was “clear evidence” other sites in the area are “not actually being occupied by Travellers”.
He told the meeting: “Pur parish cannot be the repository for so many sites that have recently been permitted, especially as there is clear evidence that they are not actually being occupied by Travellers.”
“The only service in Northwick is mains water. Nothing else. Even broadband is appalling,” he added.
“Access to everything else – pub, shop, doctors, school, bus, train – is at least a two-mile walk or drive away.”