Government inspectors have ruled a traveller family can expand their greenfield site in an area close to Ashby.

Ms Ellen McDonagh and her family appealed against a refusal by South Derbyshire District Council to allow an increase from one to two traveller pitches at a site close to The Cricketts Inn, between Netherseal and Acresford.

Now, more than a year on from that February 2020 council refusal (which officers urged councillors not to reject) a Government planning inspector has sided in favour of Ms McDonagh's family.

This is the second appeal the council has lost in the past two years over proposed traveller sites it had rejected.

Sarah Dyer writes in her decision notice that the best interests of the children, who attend a local school and require regular hospital appointments, was the most important consideration of all – though not the sole deciding factor.

The council's decision in February last year had effectively rendered the family – which had included a baby and soon-to-be baby – homeless, having shared the site with family members.

Ms Dyer says that the need for traveller sites in the district, the lack of alternative accommodation and the personal circumstances of the family all weighed in favour of allowing the application.

She said complaints about alleged anti-social behaviour and the claims about the removal of trees on the site "do not attract any weight" in the decision-making process.

Ms Dyer said that while the plans for two traveller pitches and two amenity blocks would cause "some adverse impact" on the surrounding area, most of this would be mitigated if the application is built specifically as applied for.

She writes that the degree of harm on the landscape "would not be unacceptable".

Ms Dyer writes: "There are children on the site and any action which resulted in some of them not being able to live at the site would not be in the best interests of those children.

"Living on the roadside in particular would make access to school and hospital appointments difficult.

"It is also not in the public interest to have a family living on the road with no access to drainage or facilities for the storage of waste.

"The site will also provide a stable base from which both families can access essential services such as schools and healthcare.

"This is particularly important in this case given that two of the children on the site need to attend regular hospital appointments.

"Some of the children on the site attend the local school and it is anticipated that as they grow up, other children will be pupils there.

"The head teacher has confirmed that the children who currently attend are thriving and occupation of the site would give the same opportunity to the younger children."

Allowing the planning application would allow the family to stay on the site and to clear up the differences in what had been built on the site without permission and match it up with what has now been approved.

Ms Dyer says a councillor speaking on behalf of the district council raised issues relating to the impact of the development on the landscape and the River Mease, which is highly protected against harm and contamination.

She is also said to have raised concerns about the cutting down of trees and anti-social behaviour from children on the site.

In last year's meeting, Cllr Amy Wheelton said the site represented a "large pollutant source" and that this could cause contamination to leach into the River Mease.

Tony Sylvester, the council's then head of planning, had said that Cllr Wheelton had "no technical evidence to back up your view".

A total of 60 households had filed objections to the Acresford Road application, and more than two dozen – along with two of the council's antisocial behaviour officers – attended last year's meeting at which it was refused.

Council officers said that the district has a responsibility to provide 21 traveller plots up to 2024, and it currently has a shortfall of one.

The authority must also supply a rolling stock of around seven pitches over the next five years, of which it has none.

In October 2018, the council rejected plans for a traveller site on the outskirts of Aston for six families.

This was appealed and a year later, in October 2019, the plans were overturned and approved by the Planning Inspectorate.