Traveller site between Titchfield and Stubbington set for approval despite more than 100 objections

A controversial traveller caravan site on a quiet country paddock is recommended for approval – despite more than 100 objections from furious neighbours.

Plans to turn Chestnut Paddocks off Titchfield Road into a mixed equestrian and residential caravan site for a single traveller family will go before Fareham Borough Council’s planning committee.

Councillors have been urged to give the proposals the green light at the meeting on August 12.

The retrospective application would officially allow two static caravans to remain on land between Titchfield and Stubbington, together with a new hard‑surfaced access track already laid across the fields.

The bid has sparked 118 objections from 100 households, with residents warning the scheme will eat into countryside protected for its special landscape quality.

One objector branded the wider area “development beleaguered” and insisted they would oppose “any person of any class” seeking permission on the site, arguing wildlife “has as much right as mankind to access” the land.

Another said they “strongly object” amid fears about “the erosion of the open countryside that separates Stubbington and Titchfield” at a time of “substantial growth already planned in the area”.

Neighbours have complained about loss of outlook, extra noise and disturbance, highway safety, drainage and the impact on nearby Titchfield Haven Nature Reserve and protected bird species.

Several have also criticised the fact works have already taken place, with one of the caravans occupied and the access track cut across fields before councillors have made their decision.

But in a detailed report, planning officer Hannah Goldsmith said the “modest, low‑intensity use” would “not harm the Meon Strategic Gap or the Area of Special Landscape Quality”.

She added that the caravans sit on existing hardstanding next to stables and recently built homes.

The site was previously deemed acceptable for a temporary equine worker’s caravan and lies within what inspectors have found to be a “sustainably located” area.

The council’s ecologist, highways authority and tree officer have all raised no objection, and Natural England is satisfied that impacts on habitat sites can be addressed through “new planting, upgraded foul drainage and payments towards nitrate and recreational mitigation.”

If councillors back the recommendation, permission will be granted with strict conditions fixing the number and position of the caravans.