MP in petition against green belt Taveller sites - Dorset

AN MP has launched an online petition against proposals to build three permanent Gypsy and Traveller sites on Bournemouth’s greenbelt. Tobias Ellwood, who has three of the proposed Travellers’ sites on his patch, said the petition is designed to show how inappropriate such sites on the area’s greenbelt would be.

Nine councils across Dorset banded together three years ago to hire consultants to find suitable travellers’ sites.
The consultants have come up with four suggested sites in Bournemouth – three in the green belt at Throop and Muscliff and one near the Lansdowne.

Mr Ellwood is petitioning No 10 Downing Street, the Department for Communities and Local Government and the Town Hall in Bournemouth to overturn the proposal. He said while the coalition government promised to change the law regarding provision of Traveller sites, the bill has yet to come into force. Mr Ellwood said he has received assurances that once the Localism Bill becomes law, councils will have an opportunity to re-submit their local plans without the obligation to automatically identify Gypsy Traveller locations.

He added: “Residents are extremely worried that three actual locations have been earmarked on our greenbelt. Our greenbelt land is limited, it’s been eaten away over the last 25 years and we need to protect it for future generations. This petition is designed to reflect the overwhelming view of residents that building three permanent sites in our ever diminishing but much treasured green belt is completely inappropriate. There must come a point when we say Bournemouth is full.”