Travellers move onto site where Second World War aircraft is believed to have crashed
A site where a wartime aircraft crashed following a mid-air collision – moments after pilots saved countless lives by diverting away from a village – has now been occupied by Travellers.
The Travellers have asked for planning permission to live on the green field site in Screveton where the Avro Lancaster bomber crashed in the Second World War, but have moved several caravans onto the land before the application has been determined.
Residents the Advertiser spoke to said they owed the pilots a debt for steering their crippled aircraft away from the hamlet, saving lives on the ground. They added that they will fight to preserve the site, and 93 of the 100 people who live in Screveton have signed a petition opposing the application.
The Travellers have also yet to apply for a licence under the 1986 Protection of Military Remains Act from the Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC) to disturb a military crash site where, although the bodies were removed at the time, there may still be human remains.
It is an offence under the Act to tamper with, damage, move or unearth any items at such sites, unless the MOD has issued a licence authorising such activity.
The agent for the Travellers admitted hard-standing on the Flintham Road site had been already enlarged and fencing added, but said the ground had not been disturbed.
Alison Heine, of Heine Planning Consultancy, said she was unaware her clients had called the six-plot site off Flintham Road 'Lancaster View', adding that she found the name "distasteful." The name is listed in the planning application submitted to Rushcliffe Borough Council.
It was at 4.30pm on April 14, 1944 that Avro Lancaster W4103 and Airspeed Oxford LB415 collided while both were on training sorties.
There were no survivors. The nine men aboard the Lancaster and the two pilots of the Oxford were killed. Nobody on the ground was hurt thanks to the actions of the pilots whose sacrifice is marked through a service on Remembrance Sunday every year.
Speaking on behalf of the parish, Nottinghamshire County Council's Armed Forces Champion, Mr Keith Girling, said: "These brave pilots steered those crippled aircraft away from the village saving it from destruction and certain death on the ground.
"Everyone feels that they owe them a debt.
"It is just as important that acts of bravery are never forgotten and the way this site is being treated at the moment is disrespectful.”
The elected member for Newark, who served in the Grenadier Guards, said the issue took on extra meaning as 2018 is the centenary anniversary of the RAF.
Planning permission is being sought for the material change of use of the land to allow for caravans for residential occupation on six plots; hard-standing; landscaping; an access road; fencing; utility buildings; sewage treatment; and soakaways.
All military aircraft crash sites in the United Kingdom are controlled sites under the Protection of Military Remains Act.
The Act states anyone wishing to disturb ground must apply for a licence at least three months before they intend to begin work.
It says a licence will not be issued if human remains are likely to be found at the site.
Should the MOD learn that items recovered have not been declared to the JCCC, or that items have been recovered or disposed of contrary to the terms of the Act, the licensee or individual concerned will be liable to prosecution.
In a letter to the JCCC seen by the Advertiser, Rushcliffe Borough Council wrote: "The site is subject to a planning application, however some works have already been commenced without planning permission having been obtained.
"At the moment we have advised the applicants of the potential for military remains on the site and that any excavations could potentially represent a criminal offence, and that they should therefore discontinue any works in progress."
Although the RAF's records of the time do not pinpoint the exact locations the aircraft came down, eyewitnesses place the Lancaster as crashing on the land the Travellers now occupy, and the Oxford near Lodge Lane.
'An aircraft crash site of emotional significance'
The Air Historical Branch, based at RAF Northolt, wrote to the borough council concerning the crews: "All have known graves, although with the very nature of aircraft crashes we cannot guarantee that no human remains are still at the site.
"The wreckage would have been recovered by the RAF for recycling, but again due to the nature of the incident there may still be small amounts of debris spread across the site."
David Needham, the author of Nottinghamshire Air Crashes, who has researched the Screveton incident, has no doubt the grid references from the crash sites are correct given the eyewitness testimony and said he had seen small fragments of the Lancaster in hedgerows at the site.
"It is known that a propeller from one of the engines was ploughed up some years later and it is not unrealistic to suppose that other parts of the aircraft will still be in the ground," he wrote to the parish council.
The area’s borough councillor, Mrs Maureen Stockwood, has objected but the application is supported by the National Federation of Gypsy Liaison Groups.
The High Court Judge, Sir Robert Hildyard QC, of Flintham Hall, objected on a number of planning grounds and added: “The site is an aircraft crash site of emotional significance, visited by relatives of the deceased who might be expected to be horrified by development.”
Rushcliffe Borough Council’s service manager for communities, Mr Andrew Pegram, told the Advertiser: “We are aware of the application and its sensitivities. The planning application for the site is currently under consideration.
"We are liaising with the Air Historical Branch of the RAF in relation to the historical interest in the site.
“We are monitoring any on site activity whilst evaluating any potential action.”
Mrs Heine, who has represented the Travelling community for 20 years, said it was regrettable the Travellers had moved onto the site already, but that they did so out of desperation at having nowhere else to go.
"Local authorities have been spineless in not delivering sites to the extent that Travellers have nowhere to go," she said.
"They (local authorities) have failed to meet their needs.
"If they had identified sites and Travellers had decided not to use them, then I could understand.
"Our housing needs are met. We certainly know where new houses are to be built.
"Screveton is a really attractive village with new housing catering for people from outside the village.”
Of the site, she said: "There was no sign to say to say it was a war grave and there is nothing to pinpoint that as the crash site.
"I think it's horrendous to think there might still be human remains there that no one was bothered to recover. The RAF say they (the victims) have known graves."
'What we are doing doesn't harm or affect anyone'
She said she would ask her clients to desist from further development until the issue was resolved, but that decision would be theirs. However, she said, it would "not be in their interests" to continue.
She said hard-standing protected what was beneath the soil and said the ground had not been disturbed.
She added that the utility buildings would be built on a concrete base rather than having foundations, but admitted that septic tanks would need to be dug into the ground.
"If it's the case that we have to get a licence then it could be made a condition of the planning consent, just like archaeology. The RAF could be present," she said.
"What we are doing doesn't harm or affect anyone."