Villagers claim they were kept in dark over travellers’ site plan

Residents in Brotherton have accused Selby District Council of not carrying out a proper consultation over the proposed site at Mill Farm on Old Great North Road.

The site is one of four plots that have been earmarked for the scheme, which is part of a wider updated local development framework for Selby and could see as many as 20 caravans built on the chosen plot.

However, one resident said villagers were unaware the site had even been put forward under the site allocations development plan document (SADPD) until three weeks ago.

She said: “Selby Council have shown their utter disregard and contempt for the residents of Byram and Brotherton and Fairburn in respect of the site allocation development plan. In the May report there was no mention of a gipsy and travellers site at Mill Farm in Brotherton, yet the officers were in contact with the site owner in March asking him, to which he agreed, to consider this site for travellers. Yet in the subsequent five months there has been no contact with the parish councils.

“In law a proposal for a gipsy and travellers’ site should have been put out to the whole area for consultation; why hasn’t it been?”

The four sites, which also include Kellington, Whitley and Hillcrest on the former A1 near Monk Fryston, were whittled down from a possible 60, and identified during the biggest public consultation the area has ever seen.

But the Yorkshire Post understands Brotherton was not one of the sites named in the original plans.

The resident said: “For all the 60 sites in the report the residents were consulted and given 14 weeks to respond. Again the parish councils and residents of our villages are still waiting to be told of the Selby Council’s intention for this site.

“Mill Farm does not meet the criteria as a gipsy and traveller site. It is adjacent to a residential area and is in fact on land adjoining council-owned old people’s bungalows, so should therefore never have been considered. It will be interesting to hear how the council has come to the decision that in the whole of Selby district, and having considered over 60 sites in total, that they consider Mill Farm is the only site suitable, yet it doesn’t appear to meet the criteria.”

Concerns have also been voiced over the site’s safety owing to the location of a large high-voltage electricity pylon on the land.

The resident said: “The site has a huge electricity pylon, which was deemed by the council as unsuitable for housing, yet this is apparently suitable for a gipsy and travellers’ site.”

Over 140 villagers attended a heated public meeting in Brotherton last Tuesday to air their views over the controversial proposals.

Brotherton parish councillor Margaret Smith said: “We were trying to establish what’s been going on. There were a number of travellers at the meeting and they said they didn’t want to be sited in Brotherton.

“We are trying to get some answers from Selby Council but we are at the end of the line. We don’t have any information whatsoever and it has got everybody up in arms.”

The debate over where the pitches will be located has provoked a public outcry, and the Tory MP for Selby and Ainsty, Nigel Adams, admitted the topic had led to the greatest amount of correspondence from his constituents.

Mr Adams has called on Communities Secretary Eric Pickles, who will have the ultimate decision over the proposals, to consider the planning strategy extremely carefully owing to the mass of public opposition.

Selby District Council’s Executive is set to give further consideration to the plans at the beginning of next month.

No one from the council was available for comment.