Tempers flare at Newport Gypsy site debate - Gwent

COUNCIL officers and residents clashed at a heated public meeting to discuss a proposed Newport Gypsy site.

Around a hundred members of the public attended a meeting at the Civic Centre on Tuesday, where opponents to proposals for a site at Yew Tree Cottage, Bettws, had the chance to quiz officers and Newport councillors over the plans.

But the meeting became fractious, with heckling..

Yew Tree Cottage is one of five preferred sites being considered by Newport council, although so far, a planning application has only been made for the Bettws option.

A campaigner said estate agents had suggested property prices in nearby streets could be hit if it went ahead.
Sheila Davies, corporate director for regeneration and environment, said that was pure speculation and said prices were falling because of the economy.

Then, in a bad tempered exchange, a woman from the gallery shouted: “Would you buy a house next to it?”
Ms Davies replied: “How do you know where I am living?”

A member of the audience asked where the nearest public transport was from the site, while another was upset that she wasn’t sent a letter about the application and added: “I have to drive past there every day.
“If a car gets stuck, you can’t get by.”

Cabinet member for resources Cllr Peter Davies said road safety was one of the grounds that could be used to object to an application, and added that a Bettws councillor was on the planning committee.
Cllr Davies also apologised for the owner of part of the land at the proposed site, Owen Friel, not being informed before the application was made.

One resident asked whether the fact Bettws is a Labour ward, and that the council was run by a Tory/Lib Dem coalition, had any bearing on the plans.

Cllr Davies said it did not and that Tory wards were also involved in the process.