By Hayley Robinson

A formal consultation is set to begin over 30 pieces of land in Swale which have been earmarked as potential gipsy and traveller sites.

Members of Swale Council’s Local Development Framework Panel agreed to the officers recommendation to consult with both the travelling communities and residents about the proposed sites when they met at Swale House last Wednesday.

One of the sites earmarked by the Kent County Council Gipsy and Traveller Unit is close to the Travel Inn at Bobbing and next to a primary school.

The news came as a bombshell to residents who are already fighting plans to allow two caravans opposite the nearby Garden of England Crematorium.

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 in Sheppey Way is expected to be made at a Swale council planning meeting this Thursday following a site meeting.

Councillors, council officers and villagers were at the site on Monday, January 25, while Sittingbourne and Sheppey MP, Derek Wyatt, held his own meeting there on Friday, January 22.

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.

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 spokesman for the council said: "Details of the consultation are yet to be finalised but will be announced in due course."