NEWS
This
campaign has been completed. CRAG will however remain vigilent
and act upon any changes to the existing situation that renews
the threat to our village.
Many
thanks to all who participated in the campaign.
14/02/2010
- The meeting of the "SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES OVERVIEW & SCRUTINY
COMMITTEE" on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 at 10.00 a.m.
at High Street North, Dunstable considered a revised list
of possible sites that did not include any in Cranfield.
You can view the agenda and list here.
28/01/2010
- The Beds
Times & Citizen reports "ALL
TRAVELLER SITES BACK ON" It is reported that Councillor
Tom Nichols has stated that "we
are forced to review the current situation" following the withdrawal
of the proposed site at Clifton. The list will be discussed at their
committee meeting on 23rd February. The set back is the latest problem
in the process which was started by the former Mid Beds District
Council but had to be be restarted after councillors wrote
off much of the public responses as racist. Mr Nicols added "the
public consultation is now expected to start in March 2010 and
we are
encouraging local people to take part in this consultation as their
views are vitally important in the process " Report
by Damian Walker on the previous meeting of the Overview & Scrutiny
Committee.
Chaired by Cllr Young at Chicksands HQ
The
item of Proposed Gypsy and Traveller Sites was brought forward to
the first item to aid the members of the public in attendance
- nearing 100 persons.
Some people had been pre-registered to speak on behalf of their
own local proposed sites.
Cllr Peter Snelling said that some of the sites had been consulted
on to cheers of derision from the public. He explained the need
for the proposed 40 pitches and said that 105 potential sites had been
notified
on the basis that the ex County Council had a much bigger land holding
than Mid Beds that the new unitary authority could now consider.
3 Speakers spoke against and a representative. Lenny Smith a Romany (Irish) Gypsy spoke for the site at Hatch that was then dropped from
the list after a vote. Mr Smith left in a distressed state.
The Chairman of Marston Moretaine Parish Council spoke against their
proposed site that was also removed from the list after another vote.
The site at Seddington was also removed after objections from the
Highways and Environment Agencies.
The other 9 sites were voted en bloc to go ahead to the public consultation.
Cllr Tom Nicols said he thought that the Biggleswade site would
also be removed later.
Notes:
Cllr Young said we should be grateful for the work of our councillors
Alan and Ken.
Overall a disappointing meeting where it was clear there was much
disagreement between councillors and officers and public alike.
The attitudes displayed by the chair were open to criticism but
it was likely that
some amount of stage management was to be displayed at such a potentially
volatile gathering.
When I asked Cllr Snelling why he had not replied to my letter of
8th December he was very dismissive and brandished a handful of the template
letters. Cllr Young who did not reply either did accept that he should
have. Tom Nicols managed to avoid me I think.
Several speakers questioned the validity of the criteria for assessing
sites and it seems likely that many sites will be revisited at some stage.
History
- Handout
distributed
- Petitions
started in Cranfield pubs
- BOS
article (see Publicity page)
- Polite
demonstration at Council meeting
- Item
on Three Counties Radio
- Meeting
of initial supporters
- Production
of letters to councillors (see How to Help page)
- Poster
designed (see How to help page to download it)
- E-mailshot
to supporters
- Meeting
in Football Club of protesters.
- Letters
distributed for delivery to all houses in the village
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