House prices fear over Cannon Hill Travellers' site - Dorset

From the Stour and Avon Magazine

FEARS that a Traveller transit camp could be sited at the southern end of woodland in Cannon Hill, Ferndown, are impacting adversely on the area, says the chairman of the Friends group established to fight the proposal.

Michael Gorse said: "It's like the sword of Damocles hanging over us, and is already having an effect on house prices, even though it is not likely to happen until at least 2016."

He said one resident had been told by an estate agent that their home could be worth considerably less, and another had no viewers for their property which is currently on the market.

The licensee of a pub a few hundred yards away from the possible site says the knowledge that it could be many months before it happens has not changed his intention to give up the tenancy.

Mark Lindsell, licensee of the Old Thatch pub in Uddens Drive, Ferndown, which closed on Wednesday temporarily for unrelated reasons but re-opened on Friday, is concerned that trade could be damaged by the development.

He said: "A Traveller site may be some way away, but that doesn't alter a business decision you have to make 18 months earlier.

"We learnt of the proposal only a few months after taking on the tenancy."

Dorset County Council's head of countryside and business development David Ayre was one of the guest speakers at a meeting on Friday of the Friends of Uddens and Cannon Hill Woodlands.

Mr Gorse appealed for no anti-Traveller rhetoric in any questions asked saying they were not an anti-Traveller organisation, but were nevertheless greatly concerned that the southern end of Cannon Hill Woodland remained East Dorset District Council's favoured area in which to construct a site.

Mr Ayre explained that the proposal would go through a further round of consultations later this year before a decision could be made, planning permission sought, and sent to central government for approval after a public enquiry.

More than 200 people packed into Colehill Memorial Hall on Friday to hear the latest developments on that, and on Dorset County Council's now abandoned plans to include the northern side of the woodlands in the current gravel extraction plan.

Councillor Janet Dover warned that vigilance was needed as the area of woodland could be reintroduced into the plan at any time, and said that as county councillor serving on the committee dealing with the issue she would inform the Friends should there be any plans to include it.

Mr Gorse said the Friends had opened a membership scheme which all present were invited to join. He said a large signed up membership would give them a far stronger voice when dealing with both councils and other official bodies, and was pleased that the majority of those in the hall subscribed.