Preferred traveller sites named and Leamington Football Club is on the list

The three sites are at Harbury Lane, Europa Way and Stratford Road, Warwick.

Brakes are keen to move off the Harbury Lane site, which is not Green Belt, and have been in negotiations with Warwick District Council, which has designated it as Site A in its list.

The club hopes to be accommodated within the proposed Local Plan scheme for homes and employment on a big chunk of land between Leamington and south of Warwick.

It is thought the ground will become available within the next five years.

Land south of the sewage works off Stratford Road, Warwick, bounded by the River Avon and M40, will have a plan drawn up for it to include a Gypsy site and employment use. Called Site B, it is owned by Severn Trent, Warwick District Council and a private landowner.

Site C is land off Europa Way and on a plot owned by Warwickshire County Council and is not in the Green Belt.

The sites have been recommended for approval at a meeting of Warwick District Council next Wednesday.

The council has an obligation imposed by Government to provide Gypsy and traveller sites. And without the provision of 25 pitches within five years, “there is significant risk the Local Plan will be found unsound or will be significantly delayed”, said the report to councillors.

A number of sites across the council area were looked at, including the Warwickshire Exhibition Centre, off the Fosse Way, and near Warwick Racecourse.

They were rejected for reasons including landowner opposition, Green Belt and agricultural use.

A list of potential site options that were rejected by the council include Westham Lane, Barford; Birmingham Road, Budbrooke; and Banbury Road, Warwick.

Land used for an unauthorised Gypsy site on Green Belt at Kites Nest Lane, Beausale, was not considered by the council in its “preferred options.”