THE latest bid by nine gipsy families to put their site near Wyre Piddle bypass on a legal footing looks set for failure today.

Wychavon District Council's development control committee is due to rule on a planning application for 18 touring caravans, nine mobile homes, nine utility blocks and eight sheds.

A previous application for 18 mobile homes at the site was refused by the council in November 2003. The families then appealed to the Secretary of State, John Prescott, who while backing the council, left the door open for the gipsies to reapply if they could sort out their sewerage system.

The families have now returned with these new proposals - which include sewage provision - but councillors have still been advised to refuse the application at their meeting today.

Gill Collin, the council's head of planning, has cited damage to the local landscape and the human rights of nearby residents as just some of the reasons for refusal. "The proposed development unacceptably affects the visual amenities of the area," she has reminded councillors. "This is open countryside that the planning system seeks to protect in the public interest. We do not consider that the personal circumstances of the applicants are so exceptional as to override this harm to the landscape."

This stance on the issue has been backed by the overwhelming majority of people living nearby - with 49 letters sent in opposition to the planning application and only one in favour of it. Parish councils surrounding the site, including Hill & Moor, Fladbury, Pinvin and Wyre Piddle have also objected to the gipsies' plans.

Today's meeting of the council's development control committee will be held at its Civic Centre in Pershore from 2pm.

GIPSY CASE FOR STAYING

PETER, aged 36 and Jane Richards, 34, have seven children aged six months to 13 years.

Peter is an agricultural worker at various farms in Worcestershire, who travels to pick potatoes, beans and peas and do other work like haymaking and logging.

He and his family have worked on farms in the county for 10-15 years, and his grandfather worked at farms in Evesham.

He collects, sorts and ties onions and does some gardening. The family spends up to six weeks a year in Wisbech and Peterborough picking flowers, apples and pears.

Jane's mother was born in Worcestershire and her parents married in Pershore. Both have high blood pressure.