Cheshire West and Chester councillors back Rossfield Road Gypsy site plans

From The Ellesmere Port Pioneer

THE council’s decision to back plans for a Gypsy and Traveller site in Ellesmere Port has been branded a ‘travesty’ by angry residents.

Councillors voted 5-4 to approve outline proposals for 12 pitches at a council depot on Rossfield Road after a two-hour hearing in the Civic Hall on Thursday.

Glenn Higgins – who has collected 900 signatures opposing the development on Rossmore Industrial Estate – said the strategy for providing sites across the borough had been ‘flawed’.

“I think there’s been a blatant disregard for anything and everything that was said from day one,” he said.

“It’s just so hard to fathom that, with all the evidence stacked against the plans, they went in. But the fight goes on.”

Michael Maitland, attending the meeting on behalf of his daughter who lives 500 yards from the site, said the decision had been a ‘foregone conclusion’.

He added: “That wasn’t democracy at work. It was beyond the pale that they could pass that. I would say it was a travesty.”

Thursday’s meeting, attended by police and security officers, saw angry exchanges between objectors and strategic planning committee members.

Mr Higgins told councillors he was ‘extremely disheartened’ that town mayor Angela Claydon was the only Ellesmere Port councillor on the committee.

“Two businesses have already said they would pull out with the loss of 100 jobs. Don’t have the death of regeneration in Ellesmere Port on your conscience,” he added, referring to last week’s Pioneer.

Simon Artiss, planning manager for Rivacre Village housebuilders Bellway Homes said he agreed approval would undermine regeneration.

But council leader Mike Jones, who was loudly heckled, said provision had to be made for the borough’s Gypsy and Traveller community.

He said: “After 30 years nothing has been done and that is disgraceful.”

Deputy director of Irish Community Care Merseyside Win Lawlor also backed the plans.

She told the committee the Gypsy and Traveller community had ‘strong family ties’ and social, work, religious and educational links to the area.

But Netherpool councillor Diane Roberts said the application was ‘totally disrespectful’ to the Gypsy and Traveller way of life, and the need to support businesses on the industrial estate outweighed the need for pitches.