Plans for caravan site on former Norton Canes colliery rejected

Raymond Clee put forward plans for up to seven caravan pitches, a day room and utility block at the former Grove Colliery in Lime Lane.

Up to three pitches were set to be occupied by static caravans. Two buildings on the site – the former Brownhills Grove Colliery office building and the colliery manager’s house – were due to be demolished if the plans were given the green light.

The plans were discussed at Cannock Chase Council's planning committee meeting on Wednesday, January 15.

John Cameron, one of the potential residents of the site, told the meeting: “It is a permanent place of residence for myself and my extended family.

"If we have a permanent place of residence we have access to local schools, where I can enrol my children and they can receive an education and learn social skills.

“I am a traveller myself and I have lived that life for a long time. Later in life I realise I have missed out on education – I don’t want my children to miss out on this.

“I moved down from Scotland and since I have lived here we have had four different addresses. We want to be part of a community – we want the same privileges as you have.”

Michael Hargreaves, who spoke in support of the application, said many landowners refused to sell land to members of the gypsy community.

He said: “Nationally, the problem of unauthorised encampments only exists because we have failed to deliver enough sites. If we can’t deliver enough private sites – which is what the travelling people want – the problem of unauthorised encampments will continue.

“If we manage to get a permission people realise these are not criminals with three heads – they are people who want a decent place to live for their family. Over time the family is accepted as part of the community.

“I am utterly convinced this will be the case with this family in this location. They are church attending, hard working, honest people.”

The application had been recommended for approval by Cannock Chase Council’s planning officers. But the planning committee went against the recommendation and 10 voted to refuse permission, with three against rejection, after hearing concerns about the potential loss of an historic site.

Norton Canes Parish Council was among the objectors to the proposal. Parish councillors said there was a need to preserve the two buildings earmarked for demolition due to their historic and architectural significance. They feared replacement of the buildings with caravan pitches would also mean an opportunity to turn the site into a recreational, leisure and tourism area would be lost forever.

Councillor Zaphne Stretton said: “The site has a long mining history from 1852 to 1950. My uncles, brothers and sisters all worked at this colliery and it continued to be used until the early 1960s as a site for washing and distribution of coal from other mines in the area.

“It was the site of the second worst mining disaster in the South Staffordshire coalfield, when on October 2 1930 14 men were killed in an underground explosion. I believe the bodies are still underground at this site – that’s a lot of lives and no memorial has been erected at the site.”

Fellow councillors representing Norton Canes said they knew there was a shortage of sites for the travelling community in the district – but there were more suitable areas than the one proposed and one had been offered by the landowner.

Councillor Josh Newbury said: “There needs to be an increase in provision for travellers. We are not saying we don’t want pitches in our ward – we are saying this is not the right site and there is a far more appropriate site just one mile down the road.”

Councillor John Preece added: “I will happily come and support an application for a gypsy traveller site in another part of the ward. You have a solid defence for refusing this application to make sure this site is protected, otherwise you might as well rip up the Local Plan."