A Gypsy and Traveller family have been given permission to create a new home in Willingham after being told they will need to leave their current home.

Pender Smith asked South Cambridgeshire District Council to convert land known as Everetts Field, in Meadow Road, into a new home for his family.

Under the plans two static caravans will be allowed on the site, as well as up to three touring caravans.

A single-storey dayroom is also set to be built, which will include a dining room, kitchen and bathroom.

Councillors were told at a planning committee meeting on August 14 that the family had spent most of their lives living in Willingham.

They also heard that the children in the family currently attend the local school and are registered at the doctors surgery.

Council officers explained that the family had been living on a private Gypsy and Traveller site owned by someone they knew.

However, the owner of that site now needed the plot the family had been living on for one of their own family members and had therefore asked Mr Smith if he and his family could move elsewhere.

Officers said the district council had a “very limited” number of places on its own Gypsy and Traveller sites and that there was an “extensive waiting list”.

Planning officers recommended permission was given to Mr Smith to convert the land into a home for his family.

However, Willingham Parish Council objected to the application claiming the village already had its “fair share” of Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Councillor Barry Todd said the parish council believed the village was “experiencing overdevelopment” of Gypsy and Traveller sites.

He added that the Gypsy and Traveller needs assessment from 2016 said there was not a need for new sites in the area.

Cllr Todd claimed the area was at “breaking point” and could not support any more Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Officers recognised the 2016 assessment said no new sites were needed, but said this document had come under “scrutiny” in recent years as the forecast needs it set out did not reflect what was actually being seen in the area.

The meeting also heard that planning inspectors had overturned a number of refusals for Gypsy and Traveller homes in South Cambridgeshire due to the lack of alternative places for them to live.

Councillor Dr Tumi Hawkins said there was “obviously” a need in the area for Gypsy and Traveller homes that she said the authority was not meeting.

She said the district council was working on addressing the overarching issue in the new local plan.

In this particular case Cllr Hawkins said the family had been living in Willingham for much of their lifetime and needed somewhere to live.

She said there were no council sites they could go to and said the family moving onto the new site would have a “minimal” impact on the character of the countryside.

Councillor Heather Williams said she understood the parish council’s concerns about the cumulative impact of the number of applications being approved for Gypsy and Traveller homes in the village.

However, she said there was a need for pitches across the district and said she would “struggle” to find any reason that the current proposals would not be a suitable site.

The councillors unanimously agreed to grant planning permission to the family for the new Gypsy and Traveller homes.