IDENTIFYING a potential Gypsy Traveller site has cost nearly £60,000 Monmouthshire County council , as it confirmed no there was no change to its preferred location. 

The council’s ruling Labour-led cabinet will be asked to approve pressing ahead with including farmland in Crick near Chepstow, as suitable for a Gypsy Traveller site in its long term planning blueprint. 

That is despite a majority of members of a cross party committee last month recommending it remove the Bradbury Farm site, in the village near Caerwent, along with two others shortlisted, at Langley Close in Magor and Oakgrove Farm in Portskewett, from consideration. 

It said the council should, instead, start over with a new search for land that could be included in the replacement local development plan as potentially suitable for a Gypsy Traveller site, including unauthorised ones already in use. 

That is despite the council having conducted a six-year process to identify potential sites from 1,500 plots in its ownership.

A shortlist of five was dropped in July last year following opposition with one, Langley Close, remaining when two other sites were put forward for consideration from sites previously excluded as they were considered for residential development. 

Council deputy leader Paul Griffiths, who has responsibility for the development plan, warned the most recent scrutiny committee against rejecting all sites and: “There is no holy grail, an undiscovered plot of land yet to be appraised.”   

However, while four members of the committee backed including Bradbury Farm in the plan, five instead the cabinet should withdraw all  from consideration – an option the council says has “no benefits” and would be a failure of its legal duty to meet the identified need. 

Permissions granted since the process started have reduced the need from 13 pitches to seven. 

A report for the cabinet states while the preference has been for sites for no more than five or six pitches identifying Bradbury Farm as suitable for seven would be “slightly higher” than its initial intention instead of leaving it short of one identified space. 

Bradbury Farm, which is below a bridge carrying the M48, is described as having been assessed as “having a low/medium risk of noise” and avoids likely presence of unsuitable ground to the north of the site. It said a plan to mitigate noise would still be needed and it has commissioned design work. 

The cabinet report states the council has spent £59,411 to date on the site identification work and the cost of appointing architects for initial designs is estimated at £15,000, which will be funded from its housing budget. 

Developing a site could be funded from a potential Welsh Government grant but there is no support for ongoing revenue costs which it’s anticipated would be offset by rent paid for each pitch. 

Access and walking and cycling routes could be considered as the neighbouring David Broome Equestrian Centre is already identified as a strategic development site for 700 homes in the development plan. 

Should the cabinet agree to include Bradbury Farm in the plan, with a final decision subject to the outcome of the ongoing design work and further evaluation of noise mitigation, it will then be subject to the detailed formal consultation on the development plan. 

The plan identifies sites considered suitable for development but they will still require planning permission. 

The cabinet will meet on Wednesday, August 21 to consider the recommendation while the development plan could be put out for a full public consultation in the autumn if approved by the full council. 

It could then be submitted to the Welsh Government for approval in spring 2025 when it would be considered by an independent inspector.