PLANS for a permanent gipsy site to be built near Usk were refused yesterday by councillors at a Monmouthshire council planning meeting.

The application was for a permanent base for the extended Romany gipsy family of Mrs Star Lea, who argued she needed to have a permanent base for her children to access regular schooling and health services.

The application proposes four pitches, each containing a permanent mobile home and a touring caravan, to be situated at a field near the Usk interchange on the A449.

Mrs Lea told the meeting: “I’d like my kids to have a start in life. My family travel up and down the country and I never had an education.”

Monmouthshire’s head of planning, George Ashworth, advised the meeting that the authority had to adhere to strong planning policies to protect the open countryside in Monmouthshire.

He said: “It’s open countryside and we wouldn’t normally consider it for any other property.”

The application was originally submitted back in 2009 and refused. The decision to uphold the refusal was approved.

It is now subject to an appeal and the first stage of a inquiry will take place on June 22.