Showman's site approved on Blackpool's Marton Moss

Russell Holland secured permission from Blackpool Council's planning committee to live with his family at Brookeview on Midgeland Road.

He told councillors he had been searching for several years for a place to settle, and gave assurances the site would operate within the rules laid down by the council.

Mr Holland said: "This land will hopefully offer us certainty and stability and hopefully we can call it our home and put down some roots.

"Please give us a chance to put down roots and take this black cloud away which has hung over us. We don't want to be moved on and we haven't got anywhere else to go."

He said the family had previously lived on Dickies Lane on Marton Moss for six years.

Around 17 objections mainly from other residents of Marton Moss had been received to the application.

Many felt it was unfair to allow caravans to be sited on land when their own applications to build had been refused.

There were also concerns planning rules would be flouted and that too many travellers and showperson's sites were being permitted on the Moss.

But Mr Holland, whose family operates a bouncy castle business, assured the committee he would comply with conditions and would also be policed by the Showman's Guild of which he is a member.

The application includes three static caravans and two tourers, a gravelled driveway, parking areas and new boundary fences.