"You could see a situation where we see a rush of applications from the gypsy and traveler community that could actually overwhelm local authorities," said Noel Gaskell, Deputy Chairman of Residents Against Inappropriate Development (RAID), a group campaigning for preservation of Greenfield sites in England.
Gaskell told Sputnik that he represents residents' groups expressing concern that gypsies and and other communities of transients could be legally exempted from planning restrictions that the rest of the community is subject to.
"You may get a situation where because the local authority think the gypsies are a minority group they have got to have special treatment. There is a feeling locally that some of these groups do get special treatment already whereas the residents who are paying their rates and council tax don't get any special consideration at all," Gaskell added.
The comment followed a Thursday High Court ruling in London that the UK Government had discriminated against gypsies and others in the so-called traveler community. The Court ruled that the UK Government had been wrong in "calling in" and reviewing the two separate planning applications for Greenfield site use in Kent that were submitted to local authorities by Charmaine Moore and Sarah Coates.
In the decision, Judge Sir Andrew James Gilbart ruled that Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, acting on behalf of the UK Government, had breached both the Equality Act and the human rights of the two Romany gypsies.
Andrew Rogers, a spokesman for Bromley Borough Council, an area that dealt with the original application from Moore, told Sputnik that planning applications for Greenfield sites are open to anyone.
"Anyone can submit a planning application. The local authority can say yes or no, or they can defer an application. But when they reject an application the applicant can appeal. When the applicant appeals, certain processes kick in and then a planning inspector hears the appeal and then a decision is made," Rogers told Sputnik.
The Council official added the High Court decision would not affect the way Bromley Borough Council processed future applications.
The United Kingdom's "Greenfield" definition, to identify post-industrial land available for housing or other uses, is geared toward husbanding the development of agricultural, forestry and other open spaces around metropolitan areas. According to the Department for Communities and Local Government, Greenfield sites constitute around 13 percent of England's geographical area.
An estimated 90,000 ethnic Romany are said to be residing in the United Kingdom.
