Gypsy and Travellers Sites

Draft Proposal

Gypsy caravans
The Bedford Borough Council has issued a "consultation draft" called Allocations & Designations. Part of this large proposal includes possible sites for gypsies, travellers and travelling showpeople.
 
Two further potential sites (in addition to Meadow Lane) of the selected sites being reviewed are in the Cople area along the A603. These are the old petrol station site and the large Dog Farm site which, we are advised, has expansion space for over 170 pitches.
 
Cople map
Click here for a more detailed map (PDF) released by the Bedford Borough Council
 
There is a strong feeling amongst many Cople residents that these are very unsuitable sites for multiple reasons. The Bedford Borough Council have requested a response to this large, complex document. This is not an easy task as only certain types of objections in a particular format will be considered, most of which require a lot of work and expertise.
 
The Cople Parish Council (CPC) is coordinating an effort to correctly respond to this proposal. Task groups including Site assessment, highways, archaeology etc (click here for a full list in PDF format) have been created to quantify any objections, shortcomings or support for this draft proposal. There exists only a very limited time in which to create these replies and submit them to the Bedford Borough Council.
 
Clean travellers' site
The CPC request that residents read the relevant sections of the Allocations & Designations report which can be obtained from the Bedford Borough Council (telephone 01234 221732) or downloaded (PDF) from this link. Section 7 (page 45) is relevant to these proposed sites.
 
N.B. The dateline for responding to the Bedford Borough Council has now passed, it was 13th July 2010