View from Westminster - September 29, 2011
4:00pm Wednesday 28th September 2011
READERS will not be in the slightest bit surprised to read that the biggest issue in my postbag concerns the gypsy and traveller site proposals in Wyre Forest.
Eight of the 15 communities, who feared the location of these sites near their homes, welcomed the meeting last week where the district council cabinet decided which sites to take forward for consultation: seven of those communities were disappointed.
Actually, I say ‘disappointed’ but from the tone of the letters in my postbag, ‘devastated’ would be a better adjective.
I talked about this issue a few weeks back in my Shuttle column and I will repeat now the general gist of what I said then.
I am deeply concerned that the analysis being used to establish how many sites we need in Wyre Forest is being based on the now discredited Regional Spatial Strategy. This document was prepared by the previous government and has since been thrown out as nonsense by the current government.
The reason we have traveller sites is so that we can accommodate all types of residents.
When planning for a district, all needs are looked at, be they homes for families, single occupancy, retirement homes or whatever. Ethnic minorities are taken into account and that is the right thing to do.
If the council does not provide enough traveller pitches, then a travelling family, if it owns a property or has permission of the landowner, can set up an encampment anywhere it likes and this then becomes subject to a long and tedious legal process.
The 10-year legal battle over Dale Farm is one such case, but we have seen this locally in Churchill only recently. So in order to avoid any further confrontation between the travelling and the settled communities, the council is looking to find more sites.
But whilst I agree that this is, in the broadest sense, the right thing to do, I am completely sympathetic with those communities who feel they are being dumped on by the council.
Not only am I questioning the number of sites that are being sought. I am also very concerned that the Baker Associate report commissioned by the council may be wrong.
The little evidence that has been presented to me suggests that this was not undertaken with as much care as I would expect given that it cost £17,500.
I will be replying to every letter and e-mail sent to me (as we do with every communication), but in the meantime, for those residents being affected, please do continue to get in touch and share with me your thoughts, and please do let the council know your thoughts by way of the consultation process.
CONTACT YOUR MP
Email: mark.garnier.mp@parliament.uk
Telephone: 020 7219 7198 or 01562 746771.
Write to: 9a Lower Mill Street, Kidderminster, DY11 6UU, or House of Commons, Westminster, London SW1A 0AA
Friday, 30 September 2011
View from Westminster - September 29, 2011 (From Kidderminster Shuttle)
