I’m a traveller dad-of-6 & I’m being stopped from building bigger home – locals have a vendetta but we’re NOT criminals
A TRAVELLER dad-of-six has claimed he has been barred from extending his family's home by snobby locals.
Tracy McCready has hit back at claim travellers were criminals, describing his family as "good law abiding people who work hard and never claim benefits".
The clash came during a heated planning row with residents of Lutterworth, Leicestershire.
Tracy delivered an emotional defence in the hearing with Harborough District Council who had refused him permission to extend his caravan site.
The landscaping business owner wants to build four new traveller pitches on his current site in Bitteswell village.
He planned for eight extra caravans and mobile homes because his recently married son needs more space as his family grows.
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The council reportedly received numerous objections from locals who feared that more caravans would see an “increased risk of crime or a fear of crime.”
The council blocked Tracy's plans and the dad-of-six was brought to tears as he fought his corner.
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He told how the planned new pitches were purely for “family use and not any financial game."
Tracy said: “You need a home for your family and we need more space for ours. We live together as one big family.
"There is nowhere else for them to go in the borough. If permission is not granted they would have to move 100 miles to the other end of the country and then would need to find work.”
Tracy added that his son was recently married and wanted chlidren of his own, before pointing out his teenage boys need their own space as they grow up.
He said he had four cousins living on the site, plus their parents and kids, a brother-in-law and his parents and “quite a number of other cousins.”
The dad was hurt that locals thought so badly of his family and the travelling community.
He added: “If I don’t receive planning permission because I am a gypsy I am being punished for a crime I have never done.
“I work hard, I run a landscaping business and my two elder sons work with me and another helps out.
We pay our own way, we pay our own taxes and we don’t claim any benefits.
Tracy McCreary
“We want to provide for our family and we want to do it properly.
“We pay our own way, we pay our own taxes and we don’t claim any benefits.”
Tracy added that his sons play football and go to church, integrating with the community even though they are homeschooled.
Philip Brown, planning consultant, speaking on Tracy's behalf, said permission should be granted, saying: “He has not got a criminal record, nor has his family.
“There is no evidence of any crime, fear of crime or anti social behaviour on the site."
Yet Lucy Tankard - the only member of public present at the hearing - told the inspector she was opposed to the plans.
She said: “There are 42 pitches and if plans are allowed that will be another four. I represent the community and I am not being discriminatory but the site could keep growing and growing, getting bigger and bigger,
“Permission was refused in July last year. If it is granted on appeal it will make a mockery of the local plan and there will be over-intensification.
Population of the site is already around 400-500 people and it dominates the community.
Lucy Tankard
“Population of the site is already around 400-500 people and it dominates the community."
Former events manager Ms Tankard, 51, said there had been 200 objections to the original proposed new pitches with 70 per cent referring to crime, fear of crime and anti social behaviour as the main reason for opposition.
She said the upmarket town of Market Harborough was the 16th highest in the country for the number of traveller caravans, according to latest statistics in July last year,
Rosita Page, an elected district and county councillor, asked to speak on behalf of local residents, said there was “no personal vendetta” against Mr McCready.
I do not know what is fact or fiction. I am just piggy in the middle.
Rosita Page
Harborough District Council development manager Adrian Eastwood and Enforcement Team Leader Chrsitin Zacharia were also present at the hearing, reported on solely by The Sun Online.
The two parties later went on a site visit, with the Inspector informing that she would defer a decision on Mr McCready’s public inquiry appeal for several weeks.
A spokesperson for Harborough District Council said: "The council has a supply of pitches to meet its identified need (for traveller accommodation) and there are vacant pitches at a larger site.
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"Concerns raised in the objections included allegations of anti-social behaviour. It was also alleged that the current caravan plot had been rented out to the public via the app NextDoor, something that was a breach of the site's existing planning conditions."
Both Ullesthorpe and Claybrooke Parva parish councils had urged the council to reject the proposed development.
