A CONTROVERSIAL application for a travellers' site to be built in Springhead Road has been submitted.

Gravesend Borough Council has applied for permission to change the use of land south of Brookvale Depot, Northfleet, to a permanent gipsy and traveller site with eight pitches.

Previously, the Gravesend Messenger reported that the application had been put on hold after the families to whom it had been offered had submitted their own application to stay at their site in White Post Lane, Sole Street.

The council had won a protracted 16-month legal battle to remove them from the beauty spot near Cobham.

This had temporarily saved the Royal Naval Association from having to move from Springhead Road, as their clubhouse is on the spot earmarked for the families' relocation.

However, leader of Gravesham Borough Council Mike Snelling said the council was obliged to apply for permission to use the Springhead Road site to house the travellers because it had previously offered it to them.

He said: "There are a number of issues here. The travellers at White Post Lane have been offered a site in Springhead Road; for that to happen it has to have planning permission for travellers, that's why the application has gone in. It does not mean they will move on to the site.

"The travellers have not accepted the land. They have submitted an application to stay for another three years and we are obliged to consider that."

He added the council was also having to look into what options it would have to enforce any decision.

Kent county councillor Leslie Christie says his residents are concerned at the possibility that the Springhead Road site may be granted a change of use.

He said: "The local population are very concerned about this and have been letting the council know their objections.

"Much of it is this belief that the council is trying to solve a problem in Cobham and Sole Street by moving the camp to here."

He added that he and fellow councillor Ray Parker had surveyed 900 households in the area on the issue and, out of 431 responses, found only two which were positive.

The matter will go before Gravesham Borough Council's regulatory committee on Wednesday, December 10.