Next Step in Six Year Search for Gypsy Traveller Site Expected This Week

THE next step in a six year search for a Gypsy Traveller site could be outlined this week after councillors said it should start over. 
It had been intended a preferred site could be identified at a meeting this month but that was thrown into doubt in July when a committee of councillors said all three shortlisted should be rejected.
It is unclear how Monmouthshire County Council’s Labour-led cabinet– which must identify a site in its long term local development plan to meet the demand it has identified – will respond to the council scrutiny committee’s call. 
A report that will set out the council’s plans is expected to be published this week ahead of a cabinet meeting next Wednesday, August 21. 
That meeting was due to confirm the council’s preference to identify a field, Bradbury Farm, next to Crick Road, in Crick near Caerwent as a potential site. It is next to a bridge carrying the A48 dual carriageway. 
Deputy leader Paul Griffiths, who has responsibility for finding the site, had said he would consider the comments made by the scrutiny committee, and his response could be contained in the report to be published this week which could set out the council’s next steps. 
Cllr Griffiths had previously tried to assure councillors and residents Bradbury Farm could be developed as part of a masterplan for up to 700 homes as a result of the potential redevelopment of the nearby David Broom Equestrian Centre. 
He said that would also address concerns over access and road safety.  
While the council had originally been looking for sites to accommodate 13 pitches that has reduced to seven after some sites, that didn’t have planning permission, had since been approved, including at Llancayo near Usk. 
Cllr Griffiths also said the two other sites that had been considered, Langley Close in Magor and Oakgrove, Portskewett, would be removed from the process but the committee said all should be withdrawn. 
He said since 2018 the council had considered 1,500 plots in its ownership and when sites, including near Monmouth, were rejected by the same cross party scrutiny committee in July last year it looked at sites earmarked for potential housing developments previously been excluded from the search. 
Part of the July meeting was held behind closed doors, to protect the privacy of those identified in need of housing, when councillors discussed existing Gypsy and Traveller sites in the Crick area including those without planning permission. 
Residents on Crick Road, and the Walnut Grove residential estate that is close the Bradbury Farm, said they are concerned about the potential development. 
One said: “I would prefer it if it wasn’t there. I think we’ve already got one site in the village that sprung up a few years ago.” 
The man, who asked not be named, said he hadn’t taken part in the council’s consultation on the Gypsy Traveller sites, that received more than 400 individual responses, but had previously written to it with concerns about the impact of new housing on Crick Road. 
Another man, who also didn’t want to be named, said he was concerned how sewerage would be dealt with as residents in Walnut Grove pay for a private sewer to be maintained. 
Another said while he is “happy for anyone to live anywhere” he was still concerned but conceded: “There is just a lot of bad press that flies around about Gypsies.” 
During the July council meeting it also emerged the authority has had only limited contact with the Gypsy Travellers it has assessed as in need of a site. 
It has had contact with adovacy bodies but head of housing Ian Bakewell said while it has relationships with a number of familes an engagement event held at County Hall in Usk “didn’t get the attendance we would have hoped” but he said there had been interest from the community in all three sites. ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​

By BBC LDRS ‌​‌​‌​​​‍‌​‌​​‌‌‌‍‌​‌‌​​‌​‍‌​‌‌‌​‌‌‍‌​‌‌‌‌​​