Funding for new Travellers’ site at Burn Airfield - Yorkshire

From the Press

FUNDING has been allocated to create a new Gypsy and Traveller site in a Selby village despite protests of the local parish council.

The controversial bid to build a new 15-pitch site on about ten acres of land at Burn Airfield could cost up to £940,000, and would be paid for by Selby District Council with some Government assistance, but an open letter to the council meeting claimed the scheme went against the council’s own core strategy.

The letter, from Burn Parish Council, said: “At no point have the existing residents been consulted. This proposal ignores the soon to be signed off Core Strategy, which clearly states that the Site Allocation Development Plan Document (SADPD), which was created 18 months ago, should be used to identify potential sites within the district.

“This SADPD has been bypassed. Not only have these two documents been ignored, but national policy that gives strict guidelines to how these sites are designed and planned has also been discarded.”

The council meeting heard council leader Mark Crane had visited meetings of the parish council, and the district council believed the Burn site was necessary to meet legal requirements for Gypsy and Traveller housing, set by central Government.

Councillor Steve Shaw-Wright was at the meeting, and said: “It was a very acrimonious meeting, and there was no-one there from Burn to respond.

“We are going with the Burn site, and made the application for funding from the HCA, but with the added extra condition that if we do not get the grant, to work with our partners to secure the money for the site anyway.”