MEMBERS of Dartmoor National Park Authority’s planning committee are to visit the location of a proposed permanent gypsy and traveller caravan site in South Brent.

The authority’s development management committee met last Friday to consider the plans, which would see up to twelve caravans at the site, off Exeter Road, next to the Recreation Ground and opposite the entrance to Palstone Lane.

But members chose to delay judgement, opting to arrange a site visit instead. Once this has been carried out, a decision is likely to be made when the committee meets on March 4.

Orchard Meadow, as the site is known, has been home to people living in caravans since the 1980s. In 1984, permission was granted to a family to continue living in two mobile homes, but following the site’s purchase by the current owners, the Purdy family in 1995, in 2013 an investigation confirmed that no members of the original family were living there.

In 2014, the Purdys won planning permission that allowed any gypsy or traveller to live on the site, although the number of pitches continued to be limited to two.

But according to the report drawn up by DNPA’s planning officer, ‘a couple’ of additional caravans have recently moved onto the site, occupied by members of the Purdy family.

Read more in the Ivybridge & South Brent Gazette