Plans for new travellers site in Meriden looks set for refusal - West Midlands

From the Coventry Telegraph

A NEW application for a Travellers’ site in Meriden has been recommended for refusal.

The seven-pitch site in Eaves Green Lane is next door to the land that Travellers illegally occupied in May 2010.

They are expected to leave the site after nearly three years there next March.

As a temporary measure, Travellers had applied to move on to land next door which used to house an agricultural barn, until it was demolished.

But Solihull Borough Council look set to once again refuse the proposal.

A report prepared for the planning committee meeting on November 7 suggests that the application will be turned down.

The report’s author suggests that because of increased traffic, the risk of flood and damage to the green belt the application should not go ahead.

Since the Travellers arrived in Eaves Green Lane, protesters have set up a makeshift camp which is also in breach of planning laws.

David McGrath, from the protest group, described the likely refusal as “a watershed moment”.

He added: “The Travellers now need to give up the tools of forced development in the countryside – bulldozers, barristers, and legal aid funded appeals – and work with residents to put the green back in Meriden.

“We will work with these and other Travellers to ensure that longer term accommodation needs are met where there is genuine need at appropriate sites on a plan-led basis.”