Travellers move horses onto land where Gypsy site could be built - Sussex

From the Crawley News

A CAMPAIGN against a proposed Traveller site in Broadfield is being stepped up – after families started to graze horses in the area.

Residents are concerned an endangered bird species could be threatened further, that there will be increased traffic and that they will lose a "beautiful haven" if land at Buchan Park Kennels is transformed into a permanent home for Travellers
T

hese worries have been heightened after the horses were left grazing on the site.

Natalie Bingham, 41, said: "The horses have been left there for weeks.

"At times they are chained and when let loose they have been found in Buchan Country Park's car park and the grounds of Cottesmore School.

"I spend a lot of my days off up there, it is a beautiful haven for nature that I would hate to lose.

"A whole new vehicle access route would have to be constructed and with the major infrastructure work needed the beauty would be destroyed.

"When you add this to the 2,500 homes being built nearby at Kilnwood Vale, the additional traffic and congestion would cause misery."

A 1,107-signature petition opposing the Travellers' site has already been submitted to Crawley Borough Council.

Kevin Berry, 46, said: "Within 50 to 150 metres of the site is a large area of heathland successfully managed to encourage the globally threatened nightjar bird.

"To build this site would severely jeopardise the continued survival of this species."

Richard Flint, 65, believes that any transformation of the land would have a detrimental effect on the area.

He said: "This is not a sensible development site. It is adjacent to an area of outstanding natural beauty.

"The land is a local amenity and it should be kept as it is for everyone to enjoy."

As part of the council's Local Plan, it identified two potential sites to accommodate Travellers.

One was the site in Broadfield, and the other was an area north of Langley Walk, in Langley Green.

However, in July it emerged that the Langley Green site had been rejected by council officers.

Borough councillor Liam Marshall-Ascough, who has offered his help to the protesters, believes the council should fight government rules that say a permanent site must be established for Travellers.

He said: "I am not against Travellers in the slightest. But we are talking about only nine pitches for a maximum of 36 people who could aspire to live on a site in years to come.

"It could turn out they never wish to live on the site and in that case we would have wasted hundreds of thousands of pounds.

"We have a large community objecting to it, compared to the potential 36 Travellers, and as a council we should stand up for them as the majority."

Alan Quirk, a Broadfield South councillor, said the council has issued an order for the animals to be removed.

He said: "We have taken a vet down to the site to make sure the horses are healthy.

"Initially the council hoped to remove the horses by the end of August but a new location was not available.

"An extension was given until the end of September and if they are not removed the council will take court action."