Last updated 10:16, Saturday, 22 November 2008

Apathy by the people of Carlisle has allowed the city council to push through a planning application for Ghyll Bank traveller and gypsy site.

When this proposal was first mooted, a petition against it of more than 400 signatures was forwarded to the council, but I appear to have been the only objector to this planning application. Could it be that no-one cares, or just that everything has been kept so quiet that no-one had an opportunity to have their say?

On the face of it we appear to have lost our case but that original petition made the council reduce the number of pitches on its application from 24 down to 15, a number that it knew it could win as planning already existed for 15.

Granting itself planning approval is not the end of the matter, just the opposite. We now need to be asking questions of our MP and our councillors as to why they are still going ahead with bringing into public ownership a private business. Refurbishing that business will cost us, the taxpayer, £2million

Other questions we need to ask include: Why is the council allowing several families to settle on the perimeter of Ghyll Bank rather than on Ghyll Bank itself? Will it be including these in the site license of 15?

We need to know how the site will be managed and who will manage it, (the council itself has a poor record of managing this type of site).

What safeguards will be built in to ensure we don’t transfer unwanted families from other areas?

Why are they putting people into an area with no facilities which means added vehicle journeys? The roads around here are unsafe for pedestrians.

The planning consultancy used by the gypsies is not happy with the plans, the National Gypsy Council is against the plans and none of the residents living nearby want any expansion of the site. Only the council itself wishes to push ahead with this scheme

There is scope for between 30 to 50 pitches on the Ghyll Bank site in total, I really do not want to see a site of that size in this area. If anyone else doesn’t, please get writing – you can make a difference.

Finally, I would have thought that the council would struggle with its grant application without the blessing of the Gypsy Council.

In the event of the applied-for grant not being forthcoming, will we end up picking up the bill through increased community charge or may I live in hope and see this project abandoned? I somehow doubt it.

JOHN BROWN
Low Harker