Selby Councillors reject own plans for Burn Gypsy site - Yorkshire

From Selby Online

Plans to provide a new caravan site for the Gypsy and Traveller community in Burn have been unexpectedly rejected following this evening’s meeting of the district planning committee.

Fifteen permanent new pitches would have been made available to Travellers had Councillors been minded to approve their own Council’s planning application for the conversion of a parcel of land close to the runway at Burn Airfield. The scheme was expected to cost the Selby Council Tax payer in excess of £900,000.

The application was rejected by committee members at a margin of 7 votes to 4. Around 40 members of the public, many of whom applauded when the result became clear, made the trip to Selby District Council’s Doncaster Road headquarters to witness the outcome of the vote.

Councillors had been expected to rubber stamp the controversial application after a comprehensive 71-page report by the Council’s lead planning officer, Richard Sunter, had endorsed the scheme pointing to a lack of viable alternatives.

The site had also been championed by the council’s own political leadership, previously arguing that use of the site would be necessary if the Authority were to be able to meet its legal obligation to supply housing for Gypsy and Traveller communities in the area.

During the course of the meeting however, it became increasingly clear that officers had effectively failed to persuade members of the merits of the scheme as it lay before them. Three key topics were touched on time and again as members edged towards making a decision – Sustainability, scale and potential for crime.

The sustainability of the site was frequently brought into question from the outset with speakers claiming residents of the proposed site would be of a severe disadvantage owing to the sites remote location in comparison to the nearest shops, schools and other community facilities. It was pointed out that the site was around 2km to the nearest villages of Brayton and Burn and that the site’s weak access to transport links meant it would be more than a kilometre’s walk to the nearest bus stop.

Speaking on behalf of local pressure group ‘Burn Against New Site’, Graham Rawlings, said, “One of the most deprived groups in society is [if the scheme goes ahead] to be placed in the least sustainable location.”

Another factor of great concern to members was the scale of the site in comparison with the nearby settlements of Henwick Hall and Burn. It was argued that the combined effect of the proposed new site, coupled with existing caravans already at a location nearby, would ‘dominate the community’.

The close proximity of the application site to the existing nearby caravan site was also a source of some anxiety amongst the panel. The committee was told that residents of the existing site were not in favour of the new application that would ‘undermine peaceful co-existence’ between the sites, leading to a potential for crime and the fear of crime.

One councillor called into question the Council’s decision to select the Burn site in the first place.

Cllr Steve Shaw-Wright (Lab, Selby North) said, “A number of influential Councillors went on the record as saying ‘not in my back yard’...

“There was another site. It was available and probably acceptable but a very senior member said it was going to happen ‘over [his] dead body’.”

Selby District Council must now decide whether it wishes to put forward a revised scheme for the Burn site or begin searching for an alternative viable and sustainable site. Theoretically it could opt to appeal the decision, but it is thought to be extremely unlikely in this instance.

see also: The Press - Controversial scheme for new Travellers site refused by planners

The Yorkshire Post - Council rejects its own plan for Travellers’ site