By Fiona Cooper

Villagers already outraged over a planned gipsy site could face the prospect of a second - and larger - one less than a mile away.

News that a new site of 12-14 pitches close to the Travel Inn at Bobbing, and next to a primary school, has been earmarked by the KCC Gipsy and Traveller Unit could come as a bombshell to villagers.

They are already fighting plans to allow two caravans opposite the Garden of England Crematorium.

Bobbing Parish Council only became aware of the Bobbing Apple plans at its meeting on January 13, to which the head of the KCC Gipsy and Traveller Unit was invited.

Parish clerk, Sue Crawford, said: “Nobody has asked us about it. We know there’s a need for sites, but it would have been nice to have had some form of consultation.

“There is a lot of anxiety among the parish council and the village about this second site: you can instantly wipe off 40 per cent from the value of nearby houses.

“We have tried to tell as many people as possible about this but, as a whole, the village has not been told.”

The 15-acre plot is one of some 30 in Swale earmarked as potential gipsy and traveller sites, all of which have been screened and assessed for their suitability. The results were due to be discussed by Swale council’s Local Development Framework Panel on Wednesday with members asked to recommend the proposed sites go out for formal consultation among both the travelling communities and residents.

Meanwhile, a decision on the controversial application for two caravans as well as a single-storey block providing a toilet, shower kitchen and dining room on land off Sheppey Way, is expected to be made at a Swale council planning meeting on Thursday following a site meeting earlier this week.

Sittingbourne MP Derek Wyatt also held his own meeting there.

Mrs Crawford, who was at Monday’s site meeting, said the parish council had already raised objections to the application and continued to do so, claiming Swale council was going against its own policies by refusing an application for a disabled bungalow on the site in 2007 but now considering a larger development.

Her views were echoed by Mr Wyatt, who said: “We need to treat all citizens with the same fairness. It’s not about whether or not the family are gipsies or travellers, it’s about equality under the law.”

Should the Bobbing Apple site be accepted as a designated gipsy site, it could be two to three years before it becomes official - giving villagers and the parish council time to object.

A council source said without designated gipsy sites, local authorities would find it almost impossible to refuse planning applications for other sites - such as the one on the Sheppey Way.

“The problem Swale has at the moment is because it has no official sites it means any application like the one on the Sheppey Way has far more chance of getting through than if it had,” he said.

“The council doesn’t have any designated sites so they are looking at possible sites. They have got to find some and have got to consider them and that is what the LDF Panel is doing. It doesn’t mean that because a site goes on the list it’s something the council wants to do. It means the council is just considering any possible land in Swale as a potential.”