Petition against Kirby Cane gipsy site

VILLAGERS fighting proposals to build a gipsy and traveller site near their homes have delivered a petition to their local council.

More than 380 people have signed a petition against proposals to build a site at Kirby Cane, near Bungay, which yesterday, November 4, was delivered to South Norfolk Council leader John Fuller.

Richard Lees, who is leading a new residents' group from Kirby Cane and Ellingham, said the petition had been developed by residents attending seminars on the site and from a public meeting and discussion sessions.

“One of the sessions was specifically for older people,” he said. “The council have not made any effort to communicate with them and we have an exceptionally high number in the village, many of whose houses have now got planning blight. Their houses were their nest eggs.

“They are very worried as estate agents tell them they have already lost 40pc of their value because a site is planned on their street.”

Mr Fuller said: “It is an important petition and we are taking it seriously. There's a feeling that this is a done deal but this is not the case.

“The weight or responses from across the district as well as the number of individual points raised means that the original intention to accept the plan on December 1 will be delayed and I have already arranged with Mr Lees and his campaign team to hold a public meeting to discuss this issue on Tuesday November 25, following publication of an interim cabinet report.”

Earsham is the preferred location for the new site on the A143 corridor, with the Church Road site at Kirby Cane as the reserve option. Sites are also proposed at Ketteringham and Suton or Spooner Row, near Wymondham.

A public consultation ended yesterday.