Travellers appeal decision over plane crash site

Travellers have lodged an appeal in a bid to stay on a site where a Lancaster bomber crashed during the second world war with the loss of nine lives.

Rushcliffe Borough Council rejected a planning application for Lancaster View, off Flintham Road, Screveton, where Travellers are living illegally.

Despite owning the land, they moved caravans, added hardstanding, fencing and a children’s playground before the planning application was determined.

Residents say they owe the two war-time pilots a debt of gratitude after they steered the doomed Lancaster and an Airspeed Oxford away from Screveton after they were involved in a mid-air crash.

The pilots’ actions in 1944 saved lives on the ground.

The borough council has started enforcement action on the site to prevent further incursion and requiring the land to be returned to its original state.

An appeal has been lodged with the Planning Inspectorate at Bristol following the refusal and the issuing of two enforcement notices served by the council.

The Inspectorate will determine if the appeals are valid and, if so, later give a date for a public inquiry, which would decide the matter.