A DECISION to refuse permission for a six-pitch gipsy caravan site at a farm between Darlington and Hurworth could be overturned next week.

Last July, the borough planning committee went against officers' recommendations and refused permission for six gipsy caravan pitches and associated amenity blocks on land at Blackwell Moor Farm, Snipe Lane, Hurworth Moor.

On Wednesday, the original application will go before the committee again following a letter from the Gipsy Council stating refusal contravened Article 8 of the Human Rights Act.

From 1994, Government grants to help local authorities provide gipsy caravan sites ceased, leaving the national shortfall to be made good by gipsies themselves.

The application made by J W Mounsey, owner of Blackwell Moor Farm, is to accommodate six of his relatives on a proper hardstanding caravan site within the grounds of his property.

The Gipsy Council states that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights has some bearing on the present application.

In a letter to the council it points out: "Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence.

"In applying for planning permission to develop a site to accommodate other members of his family group, Mr Mounsey is in fact attempting to ensure that their rights as members of his own family to a family life together on the same site are respected."

Councillors refused permission for the site last year on the grounds that it would have an adverse impact on the countryside and the adjoining A66 trunk road.