Gypsies have been given six months to quit a field near Hullavington after their planning appeal failed.

Wiltshire Council officers refused planning permission after the families moved onto the Rose Field site in April last year.

The junction that connects the access road by Rose Field with the A429 was deemed too dangerous to allow planning permission.

The gypsies appealed at a hearing on June 15, when planning inspector Wendy McKay visited the site along with council officers.

In her report Mrs McKay said she felt sympathy for the families but decided the traffic turning onto the main road posed too much of a danger to road users.

The poor visibility at the junction with the A429, which comes out next to a railway bridge, was deemed too dangerous to allow even temporary planning permission for three to fours years.

Mrs McKay said: “The identified harm to the safety of people using the public highway is so significant that permission should not be granted even on a temporary basis.”

She said she considered extending the period the families had to leave the site to 12 or 18 months, but decided against it.

She said: “There is no alternative site presently available to this group of gypsies.

“They have drawn attention to the particular difficulties that they would be likely to experience in seeking an alternative location that is suitable, available and affordable.

“If evicted, it is likely that they would be living “on the road” with all the inherent consequences of a roadside existence.

“The occupants of the site include adults with health needs, an expectant mother and children with general health and educational needs.

“However, the interests of this family must be balanced against the highway safety implications of the development.

“Whilst I have sympathy with the appellants’ circumstances, given the harm to highway safety which I have identified in this case, I do not believe that any extension of the period for compliance could be justified.”

The gypsies, all Irish travellers, were unavailable for comment as the Gazette went to press.

They moved six caravans onto the Rose Field site in April last year but were ordered to stop building work by planning officers.

They registered their children at the local primary school and the local doctor’s surgery. Johnny McCann, who lives on the site, said back in April: “We don’t have anywhere else to go. It takes years to get onto a council pitch and our children are all settled in school.

“We really want our children to get a proper education and get proper jobs.”