Traveller homes on sale for nearly £1m

2:40pm Wednesday 3rd January 2007

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Two former traveller plots have been put on the market - for almost £500,000 each.

The two pitches, in Hovefields Avenue, Wickford, were initially developed without planning permission, but now have legal sanction.

Both are being advertised on the property website, rightmove.co.uk - one for £500,000 and the other, a bungalow called Green Meadows, for £449,995.

Green Meadows is described as a three-bedroomed detached bungalow, with annexe bedroom, located "on a private road, overlooking open farm land on the outskirts of Wickford".

Of the neighbouring home, which has an asking price of £500,000, the website says: "A rare opportunity has arisen to purchase two bungalows and a mobile home on the same plot, situated in a semi-rural location within Wickford.

"There is also a separate opportunity to purchase the yard, which has possibilities for commercial use."

Dave Walsh, a settled resident in Hovefields Avenue, said he was shocked by the high asking-prices, but had heard a third plot was also on the market for a similar figure.

He said: "I would be absolutely astonished if any of them sell at those prices.

"There are a settled people living here who would like to sell up if they could get the right price.

"But with all the illegally-developed plots, people take one look and say no way. One family has been trying to sell for about seven years with no luck."

A settled resident's home in the road is also advertised on the website for £350,000, described as a detached farmhouse cottage.

Both traveller plots were developed illegally in the mid Nineties, before winning planning permission through a series of appeals against Basildon Council.

Green Meadows was later sold by travellers for £250,000 to new owners, believed to be from the settled community.

When the two plots were first bought, their land value did not need to be registered on the title deed, but similar green belt single pitches for travellers would cost around £10,000 to £20,000 to buy today.