THE next step in a six year search for a Gypsy Traveller site could be outlined this week after councillors said it should start over. 

It had been intended a preferred site could be identified at a meeting this month but that was thrown into doubt in July when a committee of councillors said all three shortlisted should be rejected.

It is unclear how Monmouthshire County Council’s Labour-led cabinet– which must identify a site in its long term local development plan to meet the demand it has identified – will respond to the council scrutiny committee’s call. 

A report that will set out the council’s plans is expected to be published this week ahead of a cabinet meeting next Wednesday, August 21. 

That meeting was due to confirm the council’s preference to identify a field, Bradbury Farm, next to Crick Road, in Crick near Caerwent as a potential site. It is next to a bridge carrying the A48 dual carriageway. 

Deputy leader Paul Griffiths, who has responsibility for finding the site, had said he would consider the comments made by the scrutiny committee, and his response could be contained in the report to be published this week which could set out the council’s next steps. 

Cllr Griffiths had previously tried to assure councillors and residents Bradbury Farm could be developed as part of a masterplan for up to 700 homes as a result of the potential redevelopment of the nearby David Broom Equestrian Centre. 

While the council had originally been looking for sites to accommodate 13 pitches that was reduced to seven after some sites that didn’t have planning permission had since been approved, including at Llancayo near Usk. 

Cllr Griffiths also said the two other sites that had been considered, Langley Close in Magor and Oakgrove, Portskewett, would be removed from the process but the committee said all should be withdrawn. 

Residents on Crick Road, and the Walnut Grove residential estate that is close to the Bradbury Farm, said they are concerned about the potential development.