Milton Keynes Council throws out Fenny Lock appeal

From the BBC

Councillors in Milton Keynes have thrown out an appeal by Travellers to allow building work on a caravan site near Bletchley to continue.

Work at the Fenny Lock site stopped in September after the council said it was not cost-effective. Some £600,000 has already been spent on the project.

After 20 Travellers appealed, the Labour group put an amendment to the full council to restart building work.

This was passed by 24 votes to 20, but the cabinet overruled the decision.

Planning permission for a site at Fenny Lock was granted under the previous Liberal Democrat administration, with £1.8m of government money allocated to it.

The Conservative group, which took over the administration in 2011, stopped the plans and ordered a review which found there were other housing needs which would be better served using the money.

Following the passing of the Labour group's amendment on Wednesday, the cabinet, which is made up of Conservative councillors, considered factors such as the comparatively high cost of the proposed pitches, the low number of Traveller households in high need and the opportunities to meet a greater range of need through the alternative use of the money.

The cash will now be used to build council bungalows with disabled access.

Council leader Andrew Geary said: "The priority for the administration is those Band 1 housing needs people, including the three Traveller families within that Band 1 housing need, who we put very much at the top of the agenda."

Wendy Lehman, of the Gypsy and Traveller Forum in Milton Keynes, said: "[The council] are not interested in addressing these things for Gypsies and travellers, otherwise they would not be able to come to any decision other than the need to build a new site."

Councillor Norman Miles, leader of the Labour group, said: "We supplied what we hoped was a reasonably constructive and robust motion that would get the matter thoroughly aired - and thoroughly aired it was."

The Liberal Democrat leader, Councillor Sam Crooks, said he thought the final decision "on so sensitive a matter" should have been taken by the full council.