9:00am Thursday 23rd April 2009
BASILDON could be forced to bear the brunt of new pitches for “travelling showpeople” in Essex...on top of 62 extra caravan plots for travellers.
It has emerged the county will have to find 103 caravan pitches by 2011 for travelling showpeople who run fairgrounds and circuses.
This is on top of about 430 pitches the county needs to find for gipsies and travellers, including 30 temporary plots.
Members of Basildon Council’s cabinet voted against creating 62 new traveller pitches because they already have 112, while some neighbours have none.
Yet they heard the district would also bear the brunt for new showmen’s quarters, despite having ten plots more than most in Essex.
The latest cabinet report said: “While the policy refers to all parts of the region providing additional plots, it makes clear those areas where there is strong presence of travelling showpeople yards should bear the brunt of new provision. As there is already a relatively high number of travelling showpeople plots in Basildon, inevitably it will be looked to provide a significant number of further plots.”
Councillors also voted against this regional policy, claiming other authorities must provide.
They described plans to overburden Basildon as “unacceptable, irrational and undeliverable”.
The meeting condemned the “flaws” in the way figures were calculated including a “fictional” local need based on the amount of unauthorised sites. They said the fact many of the travellers at Dale Farm, Crays Hill, came to Basildon from other sites in Hertfordshire and council homes in Wolverhampton, as revealed by the Echo in 2006, meant the need was exaggerated.
Tony Ball, the council’s deputy leader, said: “We accept the need to accommodate some growth on the authorised sites, but while we have planning law and the confidence of the majority of our residents on our side we will not accept unauthorised plots.”
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