TRAVELLERS have been allowed to stay on green belt land in Thundersley after a three-year planning fight.

The McCarthy family set up the unauthorised site in Janda Fields, off Fane Road, Thundersley, in August 2012 and then applied to Castle Point Council for retrospective planning permission.

The council refused, so brothers Miles and Michael McCarthy and their nephew, also called Miles McCarthy, took the matter to the planning inspectorate and have now won their appeal to stay on the land they bought in July 2012 for £83,000.

Despite granting the appeal, planning inspector Simon Hand said the site was “temporary, albeit long term” and said when the McCarthys leave the site they must remove their caravans and any other structures they have set up on the field.

A partial award of costs has also been made against the council over the site, which was once home to an animal sanctuary.

Bill Dick, councillor for St Peter’s ward, said: “I feel sorry for the applicants after all these years they’ve gone through this, but I’m upset that the inspector has approved it and worst of all has given costs against us.

“As I understand it, had it not been an animal sanctuary before it could have been different.

“They don’t seem to have been bad neighbours and they said they wanted to settle and send their children to school here, but I understand some of the neighbours are not happy about it.”

The decision to allow the site comes after a three-year wrangle that saw former secretary of state Eric Pickles call the plans in, only for it to be referred back to the planning inspectorate.

The site consists of up to five caravans and a paddock for horses and the planning inspector admitted the chance of the family finding another site in Essex “would be very difficult, if not impossible.”

Castle Point MP Rebecca Harris was shocked by the decision.

She said: “I’m absolutely staggered, we said we were going to be tougher on travellers on the green belt. I don’t think the planning inspectorate has listened to the government.”

Castle Point Council declined to comment.

It is unclear the amount of costs they will have to pay out.