A TRAVELLER dad-of-six has won a battle to expand his caravan site “to keep his family together”.
Tracy McCready was at war with his neighbours and the council over several new pitches but has finally claimed victory.
“Snobby” locals in Lutterworth, Leicestershire, had claimed he and his family were criminals who would “bring an increased risk of crime” to the area and collectively submitted more than 200 objections.
The local authority subsequently denied him permission over concerns about alleged anti-social behaviour.
But a defiant Tracy refused to back down and pushed on with his application which has finally been approved.
It means the landscaping business owner is now permitted to build four new traveller pitches on his current site in the village of Bitteswell, where there are currently 42.
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He has plans for eight extra caravans and mobile homes because his recently married son needs more space as his family grows.
Tracy previously said: “You need a home for your family and we need more space for ours. We live together as one big family.
“There is nowhere else for them to go in the borough.
“If permission is not granted they would have to move 100 miles to the other end of the country and then would need to find work.”
With four cousins, plus their parents and kids, a brother-in-law and his mum and dad, living on the site, Tracy said it was already feeling crowded.
And as his son has not long married and is wanting children, and teenage boys in the family “need their own space”, more room was essential, he added.
Harborough District Council’s planning committee gave the green light as “it was clear there was a desire for the family to live and stay together”.
Plus no evidence that Tracy was connected to the alleged criminal behaviour was found and there was unlikely to be any impact on roads or highways, the Planning Inspectorate said.
Tracy broke down in tears during the meeting in which he said: “If I don’t receive planning permission because I am a gypsy I am being punished for a crime I have never done.
“I work hard, I run a landscaping business and my two elder sons work with me and another helps out.
“We want to provide for our family and we want to do it properly.
“We pay our own way, we pay our own taxes and we don’t claim any benefits. We are good law abiding people.”
We live together as one big family and we need more space.
Tracy McCready
He added that his sons play football and go to church, integrating with the community even though they are homeschooled.
Philip Brown, planning consultant, speaking on Tracy’s behalf, said permission should be granted as “he has not got a criminal record, nor has his family”.
“There is no evidence of any crime, fear of crime or anti social behaviour on the site,” he added.
Yet Lucy Tankard – the only member of public present at the hearing – told the inspector she was opposed to the plans.
“I represent the community and I am not being discriminatory but the site could keep growing and growing, getting bigger and bigger,” she said.
“Permission was refused in July last year. If it is granted on appeal it will make a mockery of the local plan and there will be over-intensification.
“Population of the site is already around 400 to 500 people and it dominates the community.”
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The 51-year-old former events manager said there had been 200 objections to the original proposed new pitches.
Each can have two caravans, of which only one may be static.
