Traveller site plan for Ford Meadow? - Oxfordshire

From Bicester Advertiser and Review

Buckingham Town Football Club’s former home at Ford Meadow could become a temporary Traveller site, according to the owners of the land, the Sherm Group.

Managing director of north London-based Sherm, Elliot Sorsky, told the Advertiser this week: “We need the land occupied. We’ve got three acres in the town centre which is not being used and we’ve got vandals coming in left, right and centre. It’s a dilemma.

“We’ve had a lot of phone calls from residents and we’ve had calls from the local police.

“We’ve had phone calls on a daily basis from residents who back on to the site. We’re looking at using it as a caravan/Traveller site just to secure it.”

Smashed-up buildings at the former football club have been boarded up by Environmental Health, following complaints that the site was dangerous.

The Environmental Health department at Aylesbury Vale District Council had received several notifications from Bucks Fire & Rescue Service that buildings on the site had been broken into, vandalised and burnt.

A resident living near the former football ground also complained to the Advertiser about vandalism, 
arson and drug use at the site over the summer holidays.

The resident pointed to the danger of smashed windows and broken bottles and said drug paraphernalia, including needles, had been found.

On August 1, AVDC served a notice requiring the landowners to make the buildings secure within a specified period of time.

As Sherm failed to comply, AVDC arranged for a firm to make the buildings secure at the end of September.

Windows and doors have been boarded up using anti-vandal screws and a frame has been constructed across the front of the main stand to prevent access through the seating area.

Sherm will be invoiced for the cost of the work and the officer time involved.

Mr Sorsky said his firm was hoping to put in a planning applications for a housing development on the site by the end of the year.

He said: “A planning application for a residential scheme is due to be submitted and, with the support of the local community, we hope to be successful.”

In the meantime, he said: “We are considering a temporary caravan site and are in talks with the local council over this possibility.”

District councillor for Buckingham South, Robin Stuchbury, said: “I think it’s very unfortunate that a developer would intend to do something quite so provocative in light of the very genuine community in which he once had intentions of placing houses in.”