Hundreds pack out meeting to discuss travellers’ site project

Selby District Council has compiled the list of sites across the area as part of an updated Local Development Framework (LDF) and will select one where up to 20 caravans would be pitched.

The proposals have provoked a furious reaction among residents with around 300 written objections submitted and more than 600 signatures being collected on a petition in one village alone. At the meeting, organised by Brayton Parish Council at Brayton Community Centre on Tuesday night, more than 400 residents attended, at the hall which has a capacity of 250.

The Tory MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, who had a statement read out at the meeting urging villagers to submit their views to the council before consultation ends on March 21, said some landowners had only discovered they were being considered for a potential site, when they saw the shortlist.

“People are very worried about this”, he said, “There has been a scattergun approach.

“I have been contacted by dozens of residents across the district regarding the sites allocation plans and I share their concerns.

“Some of the sites are infringing on residential areas and people are very worried with having a traveller site on their doorstep – anyone would be.

“Selby Council must take residents views into consideration.

“But this is still just the consultation and I am urging all concerned residents to make sure they have their say.”

The contentious proposals follow research that shows there is a need for extra travellers’ pitches across North Yorkshire, and in particular, Selby.

Travellers have said a shortage of pitches is a real problem and said a new pitch would stop the issue of people camping by the roadside.

A spokeswoman also urged people not to be negative about their community.

Council officers have said the site should not be a flood risk, or on green belt land, and needs to have good access to main roads and bus stops as well as being with walking distance, just over a mile, of villages.

One of the potential sites chosen is just 10 yards away from the home of Selby District Council leader Mark Crane.

North Yorkshire County Councillor Dave Peart, the vice chairman of Brayton Parish Council, said: “People here have no problem with travellers but we don’t want a site in the middle of the village. It will be the same all over.

“But we do have to designate an area in Selby.

“We do have to closely look at a site somewhere in Selby district that is suitable for everybody.”

A site chosen near the village of Riccall, has also stirred up a lot of disapproval, after a petition with 600 signatures has been collected by residents against the idea.

A Selby District Council spokesman told the Yorkshire Post the plans were part of a wider update to its LDF.

He added, as well as the travellers’ site, they were looking for areas to build 4,800 homes and 45 hectares of land which could be converted to business use. We need a suitable site appropriate for some traveller families to live in”, he said.

“We have a requirement to house a sector of society and we need to find an appropriate site for that as well as all the other developments we have to deliver.

We will take in all the comments we have received before refining the plans.

“We have received between 200 and 300 written responses and are still reviewing all the comments.

“We are fully expecting an awful lot more to come in.”

Anyone wishing to view the proposals can visit www.selby.gov.uk/sadpd.

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