Massive support for permanent gypsy and traveller site in Chorley as 15-year-saga rolls on

For more than a 15 years, the Linfoot family have been battling to be able to use Green Belt land they own in Hut Lane as a site for their caravans, but have only been given a series of temporary permissions as the council looks to develop an allocated gypsy and traveller site at Cowling Farm in the east of the borough.

Cost of the Cowling Farm development pushed over £1m - read more here

The current temporary permission - for two mobile homes and five touring caravans - runs until March 31, 2025. With no progress on the Cowling Farm proposals, the family now want permanent use of the land as a residential Gypsy and Traveller site with the siting of up to seven caravans - of which no more than three can be mobile homes - and the retention of the utility block and site entrance.

A planning statement says: “The Linfoot/Bird family are in need of accommodation. The failure to develop Cowling Farm means if the current planning application is refused, that permission in March 2025 at the end of the existing planning, they will be homeless with no suitable alternatives available to them. Together with the lack of a five year supply of deliverable sites, these factors should carry substantial weight in favour of granting permanent permission.”

What do people say?

The application has so far attracted 16 public comments - 15 of which are in support, and one is neutral. One states: “The Linfoot family are a close and hard working family. They have in the years they have been there, made the site exeptional, clean and in fact beautiful. Their children have been educated in local schools, and are all well mannered and decent. The whole family are a credit to the community, they have done lots to help charities, I would love them to be my neighbours.”

Another states: “It's time to put an end to this ludicrous ongoing sage and grant permanent residency for the residents of this site. On the whole I find the families who live here to be genuine decent people who are an asset to the area in which they reside.”