THE head of a gypsy household seeking more pitches for her family to live on has blamed intolerance and misunderstanding for the number of objections to her plans.

Relley Moore’s application for four additional pitches on land she owns off Little Brook Road, in Roydon, has been recommended for approval by district council officers but has faced widespread opposition from her neighbours.

She told The Guardian: “My family’s been here for three generations- first my granddad, then my dad then me. Now I’ve got my children as well, I just want to keep them here.

“I’ve lived here all my life. We were here a long time before those houses. They knew we were here when they were built, you can’t go all horrible afterwards.”

Ms Moore’s application has attracted 43 objections including letters from the Campaign to Protect Rural Essex, and Harlow MP Bill Rammell, although it has also attracted one letter of support from a resident in Grange Lane.

Little Brook Road Residents Association has mobilised opposition to Ms Moore’s plan, and one member, who asked not to be named, said: “We understand we moved here knowing there was gypsies there. We speak to them and wave to them, there’s no problem in that sense.

“I think the worry became if she gets her application and her brothers and sisters also apply it could be double the number of pitches there.

Another resident of Little Brook Road said: “We don’t want more gypsies there. The Moores who live there are well established so we have to respect that but more pitches just opens the gate for more gypsies moving in. You can’t guarantee it’ll be a nice old granny moving in. It could be teenagers."

The Government have instructed the district council to provide for 34 new gypsy and traveller sites by 2011 and, if approved, the application would reduce the figure to 30, but residents pointed out that Roydon and Nazeing are already home to 79 per cent of the pitches in the district.

Ms Moore’s application is due to be debated by Epping Forest District council’s planning sub-committee this Wednesday (April 29).