Leeds Traveller family remains on Kippax site without planning permission after decision delayed

Adam Smith, his partner and four children moved onto Sandgate Stables, on Sandgate Terrace in Kippax in June 2022, after buying the land for £16,000. A plans panel on Thursday was told the family left the designated council-run traveller site Cottingley Springs the previous year, before living on a roadside for several months.

But 140 people have objected to the family staying on Sandgate Terrace, with many citing local demand for allotments and a desire for the land to remain as it was. It comes four years after another Traveller family tried to move onto a plot further down the street. The city council rejected that application, a decision which was later upheld on appeal.

One objector, whose name was given only as Ms Coles, said the situation was having a “detrimental impact” on the mental wellbeing of neighbours.

She told the meeting: “As a resident on Sandgate Terrace it has been devastating to see the changes on Carter’s Field allotments over a number of years. The emotional harm that this and similar illegal development is having on the community must be given consideration.”

But the family’s representative, Mark Scatchard, told councillors: “If permission is refused, the likelihood is Mr Smith and his family have nowhere else to go.

“So they would be moving to another unauthorised roadside site, which is now an illegal act. This would cause serious harm to the children, by impeding their educational prospects.”

Mr Scatchard claimed there were “two to three redundant allotments” on Sandgate Terrace, adding, “so we’re struggling to see why there’s a shortfall of allotments.”

Pressed on why the family had left Cottingley Springs in 2021, Mr Scatchard said conflict between other families at the site meant Mr Smith felt his children were safer away from it. But several panel members expressed a reluctance to give planning permission on that basis.

Labour councillor Jim McKenna said: “It could be deemed they intentionally made themselves homeless. When any of us buy a property, we can’t pick our neighbours. Why they moved off a recognised site with all the facilities there is puzzling to me.”

Designated space available for the Gypsy and Traveller community is widely accepted to be inadequate across the country. Council officer Catherine Holloway confirmed Leeds was “woefully short” in being able to meet local demand.

Labour councillor David Jenkins blamed the government for “not allocating sufficient space” for traveller families and making roadside living illegal.

“I think they’ve been stigmatised,” Councillor Jenkins said. “There is limited choice for traveller families in terms of what’s available to them and I think they live a very insecure life.”

Planning officers had suggested the family be given “temporary” planning permission to live on the site for three years. But councillors voted to defer the application to a later date, to allow for further information to be gathered. This is likely to include more detailed reasons around why the family left Cottingley Springs.