Plans have been submitted to Peterborough City Council for a gypsy caravan site just outside a rural village.

Applicant Stanley McDonagh wants to change the land at The Vineyard on Uffington Road, Barnack, from its current lawful use as a plant nursery to a caravan site for two gypsy/traveller households.

Each household would have two caravans including no more than one static caravan/mobile home.

The proposals also include the laying of hard-standing, the erection of a communal day room and the provision of a stable building.

Planning documents state that work has already begun at the site, making it a part-retrospective application.

It comes just weeks after Michael McDonagh’s application for a gypsy caravan site on the adjacent land called The Orchard was refused by the city council’s planning committee.

The plans for The Orchard received 122 objections from members of the public citing concerns around access and potential harm to the countryside.

Access to the proposed site at The Vineyard would be via the same entrance off Uffington Road.

A planning statement reads: “There were no objections on highway safety grounds when application No. 21/00993/FUL, for a limestone track and turning area, for the previous use as a plant nursery, was approved. As such, the site access provides satisfactory visibility to both north and south.”

In terms of the potential effects on the countryside, the statement adds: “The proposed development would not be prominently located or obtrusive in the landscape. As such, there would be no unacceptable harm to the character or appearance of the countryside.”

The Peterborough Draft Local Plan identifies a need for 78 gypsy and traveller pitches up to 2044, with 36 of these pitches needed during the first five years.

Planning agent Samuel Brown claimed the proposed development at The Vineyard would “satisfy all of the council’s locally specific criteria for new gypsy and traveller sites”.

City council planners will make a decision on the application at a late date.