Paragraph 23 of the Government's Planning Policy for Traveller Sites says LPAs should strictly limit new traveller sites "in open countryside that is away from existing settlements or outside areas allocated in the development plan". The phrase "open countryside" doesn't appear in the NPPF, which just refers to countryside, so what is open countryside? Setting aside the view that all countryside is "open", in which case this is just poor wording, (like "forward planning"), is it suggesting that we should view some countryside locations as suitable for travellers and others not? Bearing in mind that travellers tend to live in the countryside more than the settled community, there may be sense in this different approach. If so, does it mean areas of countryside that are not enclosed, e.g. by woodland or perhaps by undulations in the landscape? Or should we read paragraph 23 as defining the phrase (as if if it had been written "i.e. away from existing settlements or outside areas allocated in the development plan" - suggesting it is more about accessibility)? I suspect PAS data may not have updated so this will not say that I work at Hambleton DC.
