Councillors at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council say they will keep tabs on the situation at a site in Keele where a Traveller family have recently won the right to stay.

The council had been calling for Thomas and Eileen Maughan to remove their mobile home at 5 Boggs Cottage, off Keele Road in Keele, arguing it breached planning rules.

Planning permission was granted in 1992 for a mobile home, but this was limited to its original occupant Leonard Edwards and his family.

Council officials said the Maughans' occupation of the mobile home was in breach of a condition attached to the planning permission, and an enforcement notice was issued in 2018.

The Maughans appealed against the notice, and planning inspector Paul Freer has now upheld their appeal, meaning they will be allowed to stay.

He has, however, ruled that a garage on the site must be removed within two months.

Castle House, Newcastle-under-Lyme (Jonathan Sutton).

Officers at Newcastle-under-Lyme Borough Council say they will proceed with enforcement action if there is a breach of this.

Speaking at a planning committee meeting at the end of January, Cllr Dave Jones said: "This is an unfortunate result.

"It does impact an area of my ward and it does impact a number of residents in the proximity of the location.

"I'm not going to talk about the pros and cons of the outcome, I just want to move forward with this.

He added: "There are certain parts of the conditions that I and residents have concern with.

"The first is the condition to demolish the garage, which has a very short timeframe in which it needs to be completed.

"It's our understanding that there is live power to that garage and we'd want to see the authority ensure that garage is signed off as safe as it's right up against the boundary of a resident's property."

He said he was also keen to ensure the council didn't dither if there was a need for enforcement action.

He said: "We would very much be concerned about what route any enforcement action would take because this has been an ongoing saga for a significant amount of time.

"I'd like some level of reassurance to myself and residents that enforcement would be swift, should the requirement not be adhered to."

Cllr Andrew Fear agreed, and said: "I think enforcement is a very public-facing part of what the council does.

"This is almost a flagship case in that regard, and I look forward to compliance with the conditions.

"I think quite a lot of residents are interested in this, and it's no bad thing that we keep this on the agenda so that we are appraised of whether those conditions have been met, and if they've not been met then what we're doing about it."

The planning committee voted to retain the item on the agenda for future meetings, to ensure they receive ongoing updates regarding the situation at 5 Boggs Cottage.

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