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EPPING FOREST: Thousands of responses to gypsy consultation

6:29pm Monday 9th February 2009 in


THOUSANDS of gypsy and traveller consultation responses have now been handed in to the district council with residents still worried about plans to create 39 new pitches in the area.

The district council’s consultation period has been extended to Friday, February 20, but resident groups have already co-ordinated a plan to jointly hand in their documents early after spending months preparing for the original deadline on February 6.

MP Eleanor Laing was at the district council offices in Epping to meet local groups.

She said hundreds of people had contacted her about the matter adding: "The Epping Forest District already provides a large number of sites for gypsies and travellers - far more than our fair share compared with the rest of the country.”

Epping Residents Group was among those handing in their response.

A spokeswoman said: "Local residents have responded in such large numbers not because they are unsympathetic to gypsies and travellers, but because of the way they feel."

Epping Forest District Council was initially asked to make provisions for 49 new pitches by 2011, but this figure was recently recommended to be reduced to 39.

Councillors are due to produce a plan by September this year.

Comments(8)

Touchwood says...
12:27am Tue 10 Feb 09

Lets hope the local residents have their way.

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unionworkeruk says...
12:12pm Tue 10 Feb 09

Of course Gypsies have lived in Epping far longer than most of you but who cares about equal rights.
"Where I live we provide a large number of homes for pensioners. Far more than our fair share. We just do not want any more living here. We are not unsympathetic. It is just the way we feel." To paraphrase your objections.
Feel free to substitute young people Irish, black people, cockneys or your favourite disliked minority for pensioners and we have a wonderfully segregated society full of scapegoats and hate. Well done Epping objectors.

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chingfert says...
11:43pm Tue 10 Feb 09

We dont want the district looking like a third world shanty town, thankyou very much.

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unionworkeruk says...
12:44pm Wed 11 Feb 09

Google map reference Spring Close Staffordshire Street SE15 and you will see an ariel view of a local Gypsy site.
All the cars on the right are in the police car park. The Gypsy site is in the middle. Houses to your left.
Third world shanty? Looks and is as clean as your house and front garden I bet. No work is done on site.
Take off your prejudiced blinkers and try solve the problem of illegal sites with council run sites for rent like they are doing here.

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Morris Hickey says...
1:16pm Wed 11 Feb 09

Should be enough space for at least 30 vans at Garnish Hall Farm. More likely to see pigs fly.

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countrylad says...
1:25pm Wed 11 Feb 09

How about you have a traveller site in your back garden. The nice, quiet villages that are getting these sites havn't a choice in what is going on.
As for the "prejudiced blinkers" try living in a town that has had enough of dumping sites, farms being broken into and car thefts that can be traced back to traveller sites but have nothing done about them by the police.

I don't mean to rant but also try getting a home around here, the council tax costs a fortune and it's almost impossible to get a mortgage; if i'd known it would be so simple as to buy a caravan and be given land to live on i would have done it years ago.

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Morris Hickey says...
8:04pm Wed 11 Feb 09

As it happens I'm just over a mile from a traveller site.

I specified the location for a particular reason, but perhaps it's too subtle for the countrylad.

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countrylad says...
9:37am Thu 12 Feb 09

well you could have been referencing any site that you knew about, not specificly one that is a mile away from you, how about me having to live 500 yards from a possible site. And will you stop calling them 'gypsies' as though they are endangered, they are 'travellers'.

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