Green belt site assessed for Travellers again - Surrey

PEOPLE in a packed Shalford Village Hall witnessed an impassioned defence of a piece of land identified as a possible Travellers’ site.

More than 200 people attended the meeting, many of whom posed questions directly to council leader Tony Rooth, who was forced to deny accusations that Guildford Borough Council’s site allocation process was a sham.

It was announced last month that the Stonebridge site, previously judged as unsuitable for accommodation, will be reassessed, to the dismay of Stonebridge Action Group (STAG) campaigners.

The huge turnout of people wearing badges supplied by STAG meant many were unable to even enter the main hall, instead watching from the foyer, where three police officers were on hand as a precaution.

Hosted by Shalford Parish Council, the meeting allowed concerned parties to hear about the scoping process being carried out and to ask questions to Cllr Rooth and the borough council’s head of planning, Carol Humphrey.

Stonebridge, a green belt site adjacent to the A281 Horsham Road, between Shalford and Bramley, has been previously identified as a potential area for Traveller accommodation in 1982, 1987 and 1992, but was rejected on each occasion.

The land is said to be heavily contaminated, having been used for landfill. It lies on a flood plain and has poor road access.

Cllr James Palmer, who represents the Shalford ward, presented the view of the majority of those in attendance, demanding that an adequate consultation period followed the £24,000 scoping exercise.

He said: “Why is this site being looked at again when it has been rejected three times before? It feels like the same question is being asked until they get the right answer.

“What’s the point of having Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) if they are ignored?”

He joked that the most common suggestion to the question of where else sites could go was in Cllr Rooth’s back garden – at which point the council leader pointed out that he lived in a flat.

An alternative proposal has been put forward by the Wey and Arun Canal Trust to create a mooring basin, and Chris Harrison, project manager for the trust’s canal reinstatement scheme in the area, asked that the land be reserved for this work if found to be unsuitable for Traveller accommodation.

Ms Humphrey said that no guarantees could be given that the land would be reserved for anything, but she encouraged the canal trust to continue its dialogue with the council.

She said that in scoping the land, a number of key authorities would be consulted, including those involving the environment, highways, police and education. She said the issue of potential flooding would also be looked at closely.

The council has long since accepted the borough’s "urgent need" for Gypsy and Traveller pitches, and is keen to end the growing trend of unauthorised sites on green belt land being approved on appeal.

Cllr Rooth spoke of his personal experience and objections to a pitch in Puttenham Heath Road, Puttenham, which was recently approved on appeal.

STAG committee member Henry Ward claimed that a lack of a lengthy public consultation following the scoping work would render the process a sham.

Responding, Cllr Rooth said: “We will abide by any time-tabled consultation laid out. "To those who think this is a sham, is this meeting a sham? The only sham would be if we weren’t here.”

He concluded: “In a sense, whether we like it or not, these sites have to go somewhere. We have no choice but to accept this challenge.

“Unless the need for sites is addressed, then we cannot guarantee AONBs will be protected. It is better to choose where the pitches go and control them rather than end up possibly spending millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money on evicting travellers from unauthorised sites.”

Speaking at the end of the meeting, STAG chairman Chris Parker argued that high costs and poor logistics made Stonebridge unsuitable as a site, and he received enthusiastic applause.

“We’re here to look at a scoping of the scoping exercise and we’ve come away with more questions than answers,” Mr Parker said. “We’ll keep hounding them.”