PLANS to transform the rules about who can live on a north Hampshire gypsy site are being reconsidered.

People living on the land in Sandy Lane, Pamber Heath, want to remove a council condition limiting who can live there, and give it a general gypsy and traveller status instead.

It is claimed the new application to Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council will rectify a council mistake which granted permission for only those gypsies named in 2006 to set up home at Stable View.

Three years ago, the council granted permission for Joseph Hughes and his cousin Edward Hughes to live on the site with two mobile homes and two touring cars.

In July this year, John Nolan submitted a retrospective application to change the plot to his name after buying it from Mr Hughes.

Matthew Green, Mr Nolan’s agent, claimed the council realised it should never have restricted the permission to named occupants, asked Mr Nolan to withdraw his application and to submit another asking for the site to have a general gypsy and traveller condition.

This would end the need for each new owner to submit a new application to change the site occupants’ names every time the plot was sold to another owner. It would not mean an increase in the number of people living on the site.

Mr Green, from Green Planning Solutions, said his firm was “probably the UK’s most experienced agents for gypsies and travellers” and had been dealing with the issue for about 18 months.

He said: “This is an application to change a condition which will rectify a mistake made by the local planning authority a few years ago when consent was granted for this site.”

Mr Nolan’s original application drew opposition from 52 people.

Mr Green said that as this was already a gypsy site, all that would change is the lifting of the name restriction, not the number of people living there.

But neighbouring residents fear that if the application is given the go-ahead, it will allow the size of the site to increase.

Ken Phipard-Shears, 73, from Vine Tree Close, said: “We fear that this is just the beginning, and once this gets through we will see more and more gypsies allowed to live there, bringing with them all the problems associated with these sites.”

Nicky Linihan, the borough’s head of planning and transport, insisted this would not happen.

She said the new planning application sought to amend the stipulation that the two mobile homes and touring caravans would need to be occupied by specific individuals and their families.

Ms Linihan added: “The application does not seek to increase the number of mobile homes or caravans on the site.”