A PETITION has been launched calling on council chiefs to ditch plans to open a transit site for gypsies and travellers at Cledford Hall.

Cllr Jonathan Parry, Labour Cheshire East Council member for Middlewich, launched the petition online on Tuesday – and it has attracted more than 120 signatures so far.

It comes as the council gears up to launch a consultation on the second part of its local plan, formally known as the Site Allocations and Development Policies Document (SADPD), which sets aside Cledford Hall for 10 transit pitches.

The petition says: “Travellers sites should not be located next to waste sites. CEC can only have one or the other.

“Cledford Lane is not a safe route to schools and other amenities. Employment land should be used to bring jobs and prosperity to the area, not be given up for residential use.

“Middlewich already has a significant settled traveller population, integrated into the community, we do not want anything that could cause a rise in tensions between communities.

“The Government rightly states that everyone should have the opportunity of a decent place to live, which is a key element of any thriving and sustainable community, and that is equally true for travellers. So we are calling on CEC to find a site that’s right.”

Council chiefs confirmed they were considering reviving their original plans for the site earlier this summer following a string of unauthorised encampments across the borough – including at Barony Park, in Nantwich, which has had 10 incursions this year.

Cledford Hall received planning permission for a transit site in 2015, but the plans failed to materialise before time ran out last year.

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The plans were fiercely contested the first time around, with residents, councillors and Fiona Bruce MP all lodging objections.

Cllr Parry and Cllr Carol Bulman handed a report to Cabinet last week urging it to consider other sites.

The Guardian understands that consultation on the SADPD will take place from Monday, August 19, with the council set to confirm the start date later this week.

A public meeting to discuss the Cledford Hall transit site proposal is being held at Middlewich Methodist Church, in Booth Lane, from 7.30pm on Wednesday, August 21. Paper copies of the petition will also be made available to sign at the residents’ meeting and at locations across town.

Meanwhile, CEC has earmarked 53 permanent gypsy and traveller pitches across the borough in the SADPD. That includes a possible 24 pitches at Three Oakes in Booth Lane, four pitches at Meadowview in Moston and two pitches at Thimswarra Farm in Moston.

CEC was recently criticised by the Planning Inspectorate for failing to have enough permanent provision for gypsies and travellers when it lost a planning appeal over four pitches in Moston.

The document also proposes smaller housing and employment land allocations in other towns and villages across the borough, with the aim of preventing speculative developments.

Independent Cllr Toni Fox, cabinet member for planning, said: “Completion of the site allocations plan is an important step towards securing a strong and resilient basis for planning in Cheshire East, including maintaining a five-year supply of housing land.

“We want to be able to review our local plan in future from a position of strength – without risking a planning free-for all.”

The SADPD consultation will last for six weeks. CEC’s Cabinet will then consider the results and decide whether the proposals should be amended – and if so, another round of consultation would take place. Once the consultation goes live it will be available at cheshireeast.gov.uk/consultations

To sign the petition,

click here.