Many residents are backing the LibDem campaign to get the Council to rethink its plan to establish a 20 plot “showman’s” campsite on Wetherby Road.
These are sites where “showpeople” take a break from travelling and where fairground equipment is maintained & stored
The suggested location for the campsite lies between the A1237, Wetherby Road and Knapton. (It is not suggested that the whole of this field would be hard-surfaced or that fairs would routinely be operated at the site).
The field has been in the draft green belt for several decades.
It was described by the Council as recently as 2011 as “contributing towards the rural setting of the City”.
Residents believe that the activity will adversely impact on the rural nature of the area and are particularly concerned about the noise and pollution which will be caused by the maintenance of fairground equipment.
Traffic levels and speeds on Wetherby Road are already a problem.
The site would mainly be used in the winter as a “lay over” site for fairground workers.
But the chosen site is in the middle of a flat plain and stored equipment would conflict with the setting of this approach to the City.
Liberal Democrats will be collecting a petition over this weekend proposing that the field in question be retained in the Green Belt.
The site was included in the Green Belt when the Council published a Local Plan in February 2011 (when it was under LibDem control).
We accept that the Council has to make provision for showpeople but we feel that the nature of their business suggests that a less intrusive site, possibly adjacent to an industrial or commercial estate, would be more appropriate.
The petition reads:
We the undersigned object to the proposals in the council’s Local Plan for the development of land lying between Wetherby Road and Knapton village.
We believe that the site should continue to be included in the Green Belt as it protects the rural setting of the western approach to the city which would otherwise begin to merge with the outer ring road.
