Sunday 19 January 2014

Opposition to Travellers’ site - Lincolnshire

From the Spalding Guardian

People in Cowbit are saying a loud “no” to plans for a new six-acre Travellers’ site on land off the A16.

About 50 people have so far written to South Holland District Council in protest at plans to turn land off Drain Bank North, Spalding, into a site for up to 30 caravans.

More than 100 people attended a public meeting at Cowbit Village Hall last month to discuss whether the land was suitable amid concerns that it was at risk of potential flooding.

Coun Trevor Tyrrell, chairman of Cowbit Parish Council, said: “My own personal opinion is yes, the Travellers have to go somewhere, and I’m not against that, but I don’t consider the area to be suitable.

“You won’t find a wetter part of Spalding than Clay Lake (which Drain Bank North is near) and I don’t think that particular site is quite in the right place for environmental reasons.”

The planned site would be funded from a £1.75 million cash pot given to the council by the Government to provide three Travellers sites in South Holland.

One already exists in Northons Lane, Holbeach, and the planned Drain Bank North site would replace an unauthorised one in Gosberton Clough.

The plans are likely to be discussed by the district council’s planning committee in March but two Cowbit councillors, Anthony Casson and Andrew Woolf, have both come out against it.

In a comment to planning officers, Coun Casson said Drain Bank North was a “high risk flood area” near the A16 which is a “very busy road, with no footpaths and no lighting”.

There are also worries that families moving onto the site would be unable to find spaces for the children at nearby primary schools in Cowbit, Moulton, Whaplode and Weston Hills.

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