A VALE OF Evesham woman is going to the High Court asking to be labelled a gipsy.

The move by Mary Smith, of Aldington, follows a ruling by a government inspector who dismissed her appeal against Wychavon District Council. Mrs Smith wants planning permission to permit a change of use of a paddock in Village Street, Aldington, to station two gipsy caravans and build a utility block.

The council described the development as intrusive and damaging to the rural character and appearance of the area. Planners also feared that it would encroach into the rural gap between Badsey and Aldington and was contrary to rural policies, including those for gipsy sites.

The inspector agreed with the council and added that if the scheme went ahead it would also set a precedent.

He also accepted that the council's policy for assessing sites put forward by gipsies complied with government advice.

On the policy issue, the inspector said: "While the council did not dispute Mrs Smith's gipsy status, others did.

"On the basis of the detailed discussion of her history I consider that her gipsy status had ceased because she had permanently settled some years ago when at the Hipton Hill site."

But Mrs Smith has now appealed to the High Court against the inspector's decision.

She claims that the inspector failed to determine the degree of intrusion and harm to the countryside that the scheme would cause.

Mrs Smith also argues that her gipsy status should be accepted under a previous ruling that gipsies could settle for long periods yet return to their nomadic habit of life and that the national need for gipsy sites and related Government advice had not been properly considered.