AN appeal against the decision to refuse retrospective planning permission for a gypsy and traveller caravan site in Queensbury has been lodged.

A wrangle has been roaring since last year, when an application for the site in Low Lane, off Brighouse and Denholme Road, was first submitted.

The application, by site occupant Samantha Freeman, asked for retrospective permission for the use of the land as a gypsy and caravan site, which began in 2016.

The secure compound houses a static caravan and a touring caravan along with sheds, a parking area and a garden play area.

Despite more than 200 objections being left in response to the plans, the application was recommended for approval

Council officers said there was a shortage of traveller sites across the district and recommended the site be temporarily approved until more are created - a process that could take until 2021.

Their report, released ahead of the planning panel meeting last August, said the development “will help improve opportunity and social outcomes" for the family living there.

It said: “The applicant is registered with the local doctor and the children attend a school in Clayton Heights which is around an eight minute drive away, the children have a good attendance record and the behaviour is good.”

The applicant was questioned during the meeting and confirmed the land had been purchased around May 2015 and she wanted her children to be educated, as they had always attended school, but would still travel.

She said the family had moved in one year before, as there had been a social media campaign against them, and they wanted to fit in with the community.

The planning panel heard the family wanted to remain in the area and have somewhere to call home, but they had lived in a house previously and had not liked it.

In refusing the application, it was said the development was inappropriate within the Green Belt and the "very special circumstances" put forward were not considered to outweigh the harm to the Green Belt.

An appeal has now been submitted against the decision and will be determined on the basis of a hearing, the date and venue of which is yet to be confirmed by planning officers.