Pressure grows over travellers site

Pressure is growing on a district council to remove a south Norfolk beauty spot from a list of proposed locations for a permanent gipsy and traveller site.

More than 100 householders visited a public exhibition at Brockdish village hall, near Diss, on Tuesday to air their views over plans for up to eight pitches off the A143.

The rural location on the entrance to the village, south of Scole Road, was revealed earlier this year as one of nine potential sites to meet South Norfolk Council's requirement to create 20 gipsy and traveller pitches in the district.

The council is entering the final leg of an eight week public consultation period as part of its plans to find a traveller site on the A11, A47, and A143 corridors.

Officials from South Norfolk Council said there had been a good turnout for the Brockdish exhibition and a number of objections had been raised, which would be fed back to decision makers when the public scrutiny process comes to an end on May 5.

Tim Horspole , planning policy manager, said: 'Residents feel that we are promoting a site in Brockdish which does not take into account the natural beauty and impact of the site on the entrance of the village. They are also concerned about the access arrangements on the Scole Road and A143 and concerns that the primary school would not be able to cope with the extra children.'

A Brockdish Working Group has been formed to oppose the proposals and members of the parish council have also expressed their disapproval.

David Jarrold, spokesman for the working group, said their objections would be the same if a housing or industrial development was being proposed for the upper Waveney Valley site.

'It is a greenfield site and there are quite a few safety issues off the A143 and increasing the level of traffic is quite dangerous,' he said.

The last two South Norfolk Council gipsy and traveller site exhibitions will be at Wymondham's Central Hall on April 21 and 22.