From Get Surrey
A DEVELOPER has expressed relief that Travellers have finally left an area it plans to build on.
The Travellers had set up camp in the car park of an empty office block known as Sapphire House in York Close, Byfleet, and had refused to move for months.
Hugo Hague, a director at Lochailo Investments, sub-mitted an application to demolish the office block and build 11 houses with a car park and additional landscaping.
Woking borough planners are due to make a decision at the end of the month.
Mr Hague said: “We are keen to get our application to committee as soon as possible.
“We have had discussions with local people and it has been well received.”
Mr Hague was pleased to hear that the Travellers had moved on. “We were concerned about their illegal occupation and were working together with all parties to remove them,” he said.
“The biggest thing is to ensure they do not come back.”
Audrey O’Connell, 79, of York Close, said her attitude towards the Travellers had changed.
“At first I was not pleased they were there,” she said. “But they do not cause any trouble, apart from it being quite untidy.
“They were just travelling people and you feel a bit sorry for them after a while but I am pleased they are gone.”
Mary Jones, 69, who has lived in York Close for more than 30 years, said it was only the untidiness that troubled her.
“They had piles and piles of rubbish, which, in all fairness, when they went, they took with them,” she said.
But another resident said that the campsite had become an eyesore.
Byfleet councillor Anne Roberts said: “I had a call from residents of York Close saying the travellers had moved.
“There is now a mound of earth all the way round the building to prevent any further people moving in.”
But resident Mrs Jones feels the mound is more unsightly than when the Travellers were there. “It looks awful,” she said.
After leaving York Close on January 7, the Travellers initially parked on a grass verge along Parvis Road in Byfleet but moved on the following evening and have not returned.
Lochailo Investments has proposed planting bushes and shrubs, which Mr Hague said would make it impossible for the travellers to come back.
Cllr Roberts added: “I welcome the fact that Sapphire House is being developed for houses, which will prevent any reoccurrence of Travellers coming to this street.”
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