AN application to site gipsy caravans at Aldington has been thrown out.

Mary Smith wanted permission to change the use of the land at Field Farm from a paddock to a site for two caravans.

However, Wychavon District Council's planning committee heard last week that while council officers accepted that Mrs Smith had gipsy status and was therefore entitled to special consideration when it came to applying for siting caravans, they felt this particular application was undesirable.

Aldington Residents' Association (ARA) had written saying the development would be visually intrusive and planning officers recommended refusal, as they felt it would damage the "sensitive rural gap" between Badsey and Aldington.

The planning officers' report also said Mrs Smith should have been aware the site was subject to an enforcement notice requiring its use for residential caravans use to stop by February 2001.

That was served on the previous occupier Randy Ingrams, who sold the site to Mrs Smith earlier this year following his £200,000 court settlement paid for stress he suffered while working as a Worcestershire County Council warden at the Hipton Hill gipsy site.

The report also said there were no extenuating circumstances that would warrant Mrs Smith special consideration under the new human rights legislation.

ARA chairman Patrick Sparrow said he was pleased and unsurprised at the decision but was waiting to see if there would be an appeal.

Planning legislation dating from 1960 affords gipsy status to "persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin". If the applicant can prove their lifestyle and culture is nomadic, they are entitled to certain allowances when making applications for things like the siting of permanent caravans.

Wychavon planning officer Simon Saint said planning officers often knew the backgrounds of applicants claiming gipsy status, but if they were unsure they checked the claim with other councils or the National Gipsy Council.