Councillors to decide on site for travellers

The Selby District Council executive will choose between four potential sites at Brotherton, Kellington, Whitley, or Hillcrest on the former A1 near Monk Fryston.

The choices have been whittled down from a possible 60, identified during the biggest public consultation the area has ever seen. The proposals sparked outrage earlier this year.

About 2,000 residents responded to the consultation, which is part of a wider updated local development framework for Selby.

Executive member Councillor John Mackman said, “We’re on a journey with this document, and there’s still a great deal of work to do. However, it’s important that we take a hard look at this stage to see where we are in light of the comments received.

“By far the largest number of responses related to the provision of ten new gypsy and traveller pitches.

“The consultation responses have focused our efforts to refine that methodology and, most importantly, to pursue only those sites that landowners have actively put forward for this use.

“This means that we’re now only proposing to allocate one site to accommodate the ten pitches.

“That’s not to say this will definitely get the go ahead - there will be another consultation in the autumn and in any case each site must eventually be subject to the normal planning application process just like any other planning application.”

After the executive has reviewed the Selby District Council’s site allocations development plan document (SADPD), the preferred option will then go forward for consideration by the council’s policy review committee.

It will then return to the executive before the full council decides on what is published for the next round of public consultation in the autumn.