PLANNERS have backed the continued siting of four Gypsy caravans at North Boarhunt near Fareham.

Jane Keet applied for permission for the site at the Old Piggery on Firgrove Lane, north of Southwick Road, close to a large number of mobile homes and caravans.

Temporary permission for the four caravans was granted in 2011 and the application sought to make that approval permanent.

The site has a complex planning history and there are currently 26 unauthorised pitches on the sites known as the Old Piggeries and Withy Beds. The current proposal would regularise four of those.

Boarhunt Parish Council objected saying there are already too many Gypsy pitches in the parish and cited the lack of infrastructure and facilities.

There was also interference and damage with rights of way along Firgrove Lane.

Three letters of support were received from residents of the site with no reasons given.

Councillors on the planning committee voted by four to three with one abstention to make the permission permanent.