SHENLEY residents filled their village hall on Wednesday to oppose a traveller site on Green Belt land.

About 200 people attended and some were forced to stand to discuss the application to install a traveller pitch next to Shenleybury Cottages.

Landowner Sarah Price has applied to Hertsmere Borough Council for the site to accommodate one static caravan, parking for one touring caravan and two vehicles and one portaloo.

The application is retrospective, as there is already a family living there.

So far, 174 letters against the application have been sent to Hertsmere Borough Council.

The evening was organised at the hall, in London Road, by Shenleybury resident Mark Blundell and Councillor Rosemary Gilligan. James Clappison, Conservative parliamentary candidate for Hertsmere, also attended.

Councillor Rosemary Gilligan said: “As you know, the whole of Shenley is in the Green Belt. The Green Belt is the best protection that any bit of land has against development. It is a standard thing about building in the Green Belt to ask, is it appropriate?

“A number of people in Shenleybury have encountered this already as we have had a number of applications that were turned down under delegated powers with inappropriate development on the Green Belt.

“It’s in an area we have previously been very strict on our policy. I personally think it is inappropriate development in the Green Belt.”

The land was previously owned by the NHS and Mrs Price bought it at auction. It was used as garage space by staff who worked at the nearby hospitals and lived at Shenleybury Cottages. All that is left of the garages are two concrete slabs.

Mr Clappison said: “I think this is a bad development and an inappropriate development. I’m generally not in favour of retrospective applications, especially those which affect the Green Belt.

“Even if it was a new application, I think there are some very sound planning policy reasons why permission should not be granted.

“I have already let the council know of my concerns about this application and I’m sure that many more of you will be concerned, so please get in touch with the council.”

Jo Crowley, who works for Bucks Floating Support, an organisation involved in applications for travellers sites, said: “This is just an application for the change of use. There doesn’t need to be a single spade put into the ground. The existing pieces of ground where there are two large concrete slabs will be used.

“There is an outstanding need for pitches in the area and this will be a local site for a local family.

“There will be no impact on the local surroundings or local services. It is one family and it’s not as if there is going to be a big influx of travellers.

“Often people will get worried about new sites in an area and we want to allay these fears and are happy to attend any future meetings.”

Miss Gilligan said the council would consider the application on June 10 at the earliest. She added: “Normally a planning application is treated and dealt with within eight weeks.

“For this particular application, the month of May is a month where there are no committees because of local elections. The council is in effect disbanded.

“The next committee the application can go to is June 10.”