Four new Stourport sites added to traveller pitch shortlist (From Kidderminster Shuttle)
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Four new Stourport sites added to traveller pitch shortlist
11:27am Wednesday 4th January 2012 in News
ANOTHER four places in Stourport have been added to Wyre Forest's gypsy and traveller site shortlist.
Following consultation on seven potential sites, Wyre Forest District Council has been asked by residents to consider the following additional areas:
• The Gatehouse, Sandy Lane - eight pitches
• 28/29 Sandy Lane - six pitches
•1a Broach Road - one pitch.
• Land off Wilden Lane - one site for travelling showpeople north of the industrial estate.
District council officers have already decided to recommend the following Stourport sites:
• Saiwen, Sandy Lane - five pitches.
• Nunn’s Corner, Sandy Lane - four pitches.
• The Gables Yard, Broach Road three pitches.
These are all areas where gypsy and traveller communities are already living without formal authorisation.
Officers have also recommended that sites at Manor Farm in Stourport, Stourport Road in Bewdley, the former Sion Hill school in Wolverley and Lea Castle in Cookley should be struck off the shortlist.
Councillors have not yet discussed the four new sites but will consider them at meetings in January.
If Councillors decide that one or more of the plots should be included in the Site Allocations and Policies Development Plan Document, it will consult on them for six weeks, but no public meetings are planned.
The additional round of consultation is expected to take place in February and March to give residents a chance to have their say.
Liberal leader on the district council, Fran Oborski, who chairs the Local Development Framework (LDF) panel, said: “On this occasion, it is helpful that people should know what officers are recommending to the panel so that there is full transparency about the process.”
She added: “The panel looks forward to considering the responses to the recent consultation and discussing the officers’ recommendations with them before it formulates its conclusions for the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.”
Independent councillor Helen Dyke, chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, said: “I have decided to hold a special meeting of the committee, solely to consider the latest round of proposals on site allocations for gypsies, travellers and travelling showpeople. Anyone with an interest can come along and hear our debate.”
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee will meet at 6pm on Monday, January 30, in Stourport Civic Hall.
The LDF panel meets on Monday, January, 16 to consider the consultation responses and officers’ recommendations. This panel never meets in public.
The Overview and Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations will be considered by the cabinet at 6pm on Tuesday, January 31 in Stourport Civic Hall. It will make the decision on what further consultation is undertaken.
Comments(26)
The Fossa
says...
9:25pm Wed 4 Jan 12
So places where they're going against planning then? The arguement then that they're already there so just make it legal? One way to do it I suppose.
FlipC - The Mad Ranter
says...
9:30am Thu 5 Jan 12
So just to get this clear in my head - DCO's are going to recommend these sites at the meeting to be held on the 16th. That is - a meeting not currently listed on the WFDC's meeting diary and therefore we the public have no information on?
Does that mean another round of public consultations or as these have been requested by residents will the council assume that means the 'public' are already in favour of this?
The Fossa
says...
4:06pm Thu 5 Jan 12
Paul Mitchell
says...
12:20pm Fri 6 Jan 12
FlipC - The Mad Ranter
says...
12:53pm Fri 6 Jan 12
1) Locate some cleared industrial land/Storage or Green Belt site;
2) Purchase said land cheaply because planning regulations don't allow residential buildings there;
3) Build residential sites there, then apply for permission to do so;
4) State that you are having to do this because the council aren't providing enough sites as required by law;
5) Have the council switch planning usage to allow residential building on these sites.
Excellent can we try that with private firms building blocks of council flats too? I mean so long as there's a waiting list then by definition there's not enough accommodation, which is a failure on the part of the council, which in turn gives private builders the right to build wherever they like provided it's only for council tenants.
FranOb
says...
3:20pm Fri 6 Jan 12
F Fish
says...
4:23pm Fri 6 Jan 12
neilhar
says...
7:59pm Sat 7 Jan 12
The Fossa
says...
9:43am Sun 8 Jan 12
'New authorised sites, with the support of local communities, will be treated on equal footing as new bricks and mortar homes, with councils getting powerful financial benefits for building authorised sites where they are needed.'
'Ministers hope the money will lead to better relations between travellers, local communities and councils.'
neilhar
says...
9:56am Sun 8 Jan 12
"'It's all about the money money money"
Why was this detail not part of the shamsultation? Legalise all the illegal sites and how much does that get the council then. Not sure the approach taken has done much to improve relations though
DQT
says...
4:28pm Sun 8 Jan 12
somerford
says...
6:24pm Sun 8 Jan 12
Oh, I forgot we the people of Stourport welcomed and gave no opposition to this blatant fiasco!
The Fossa
says...
7:27pm Sun 8 Jan 12
Is Stourport (sorry, the council) going to get a nice chunk of dosh then from The Homes and Communities Agency?
Arsiep
says...
11:30pm Sun 8 Jan 12
Arsiep
says...
11:40pm Sun 8 Jan 12
FlipC - The Mad Ranter
says...
12:31pm Mon 9 Jan 12
@The Fossa "and the local residents aren't going to complain as they are travellers" yeah but the local businesses might have something to say, but hey they're not voters in and of themselves so they don't count.
@Arsiep - "how long can a person stay and still qualify as one of the above?" Doesn't apply - it's an ethnic grouping; there's no requirement for a traveller to travel, and travelling doesn't make you a traveller.
Arsiep
says...
9:37am Tue 10 Jan 12
How do you know that?
FlipC - The Mad Ranter
says...
11:58am Tue 10 Jan 12
Thus being a traveller isn't like being a vegan for instance. A traveller who didn't travel would be more akin to an atheist Jew; they'd still be considered a traveller/Jewish in the ethnic sense if not the cultural/religious one.
jflawson
says...
7:56pm Tue 10 Jan 12
It would be nice to be given a clear uncomplicated answer to these questions.
i live in hope that one day the decisionmakers put forward a reply
that ordinary people like me understand.
jim lawson
The Fossa
says...
8:20pm Tue 10 Jan 12
As to the financial help for local schools, it'll be the same as for any child going to the school X amount per pupil, or a higher amount/extra help hours if that pupil has a special needs or behavioural statement/issues and an amount per pupil if they are on free school meals (and therefore classed as 'deprived'). It shouldn't create a huge influx of children for local schools anyway as, on the whole, the families are already here.
Cllr Paul Gittins
says...
10:10pm Tue 10 Jan 12
DOEPUBLIC
says...
2:49am Wed 11 Jan 12
1. That these are the only additional sites that were suggested during the consultation period ?
2. That no encouragement is to be made, for the next 12 years, towards members of the GTTS community to live beyond the Stourport boundary ?
3. That for the next 12 years no member of the GTTS will be able to request/plan a pitch beyond the Stourport boundary ?
FlipC - The Mad Ranter
says...
9:13am Wed 11 Jan 12
3a) The council discovers the building work and orders it to stop while permission is sought.
3b) Building work continues.
FranOb
says...
11:24am Wed 11 Jan 12
Whatever happens future planning applications will, as always, be treated on their merits.
DOEPUBLIC
says...
3:49pm Wed 11 Jan 12
If 'Whatever happens future planning applications will, as always, be treated on their merits' applies then clearly 'merit' will be determined by the present 'limitations' being arrived at.
My questions still seek confirmation.
jon cooper says...
7:05pm Wed 4 Jan 12