Local MP Sir Jeremy Wright has said granting retrospective permission for a traveller site near Norton Lindsey would be "profoundly troubling" and could lead to a rise of development without permission.

A planning hearing was held at the end of July to discuss an application for the site off Henley Road where construction began in May 2024 without planning permission.

Warwick District Council (WDC) then served an enforcement action to stop the building work, with the travellers who own the site subsequently requesting planning permission.

Sir Jeremy Wright and councillors Jan Matecki and Peter Phillips attended the hearing last week, opposing the development.

Meanwhile WDC had watered down its objection to the development by agreeing the land was not actually in the green belt, but in the newly defined 'grey belt'.

While no decision has yet been made on the development, Sir Jeremy released a lengthy statement saying it would set a precedent should the application be approved.

"The remaining two central purposes of the green belt are to assist in safeguarding the countryside from encroachment and to assist in urban regeneration by encouraging the recycling of derelict and other urban land," he wrote. 

"Both of these purposes are fundamentally undermined if planning applications like this one are granted, because doing so will encourage further similar applications in the green belt. 

"The granting of those applications will have a cumulative effect on the countryside and, of course, if sites are being developed more easily in the countryside and in the green belt, as developers generally prefer, derelict urban sites are not being developed instead and urban regeneration is undermined."

The Conservative MP said the site was not suitable for development as it is not close to any local amenities, does not have a suitable footpath and the entrance is not visible enough "due to the speed of traffic on Henley Road".

He also said the fact the development began without planning permission should also be considered.

"Some applicants may be encouraged by the granting of this application, retrospective as it is, to behave as I believe these applicants have done, and deliberately and cynically breach the planning rules by developing a site first (over a Bank Holiday weekend when they knew any enforcement action would be delayed) and asking for permission to do so later," Sir Jeremy continued. 

"If it becomes routine that there are no negative consequences for applicants who develop without permission and are then given that permission retrospectively anyway, we cannot be surprised if more applicants take that course."

While WDC removed its objections regarding the green belt, it did still object, raising issues around waste management, biodiversity, water drainage and nearby M40 would be too loud for the people living there.

The council said it "cannot be demonstrated that the development would not result in an increased flood risk elsewhere".

If approved, the planning application would see the field turned into a base for 12 families.

See the full application here.