| Residents of Leicester, Kirby
Muxloe, Leicester Forest East and the nearby area are appalled
by the plans, which they say will bring crime and attract more
illegal sites in the area.
The debate has caused friction between the city council and
county council, which says the site is not suitable.
At the meeting, in Leicester Forest East Parish Hall, David
Parsons, who is both leader of the county council and ward member
for Leicester Forest East, said: "We are not 'nimbys' -
we have 40 pitches in this area. We take our share.
"We will fight because this is a bad planning application
and we in Leicester Forest East will not be pushed around."
David Herbert, branch manager of the RSPCA's Scudamore Road
centre also spoke at the meeting, saying during a previous illegal
traveller encampment near the centre, nine dogs were stolen
in a week.
Peter Batty, a Hinckley borough councillor, warned people not
to trust the city council and warned it could expand to become
a "ghetto".
Pauline Hulett, who rents Cottage Farm from the city council,
has become the face of the campaign. She fears that she will
lose her home to the site, and does not want to have travellers
living near her land.
She addressed the meeting and told them of her worries and
thanked them for their support.
Speaking outside the meeting, Mrs Hulett told the Mercury:
"I'm surprised how wide the protest has spread, but then
people have had problems with travellers in the past.
"I've worked all my life and put into this system, only
to be thrown aside for people who don't pay in and expect society
to give them things.
"I know they've got to live somewhere, but what about
me?"
One resident said: "They won't pay rates and the area
isn't going to be worth living in. It will be a total traffic
bottleneck."
John Mugglestone, the city councillor in charge of the scheme,
was not at the meeting, where he came under furious attack.
Later he told the Mercury he had never been invited. He said:
"I don't like travellers any more than anyone else does,
but it costs us hundreds of thousands of pounds to clear up
after them when they use our land illegally.
"This site is next to the motorway and 750 metres from
all homes except one.
"Mrs Hulett keeps saying we are throwing her out but this
isn't the case. All we want of her land is a small strip the
width of a carrot to gain access to the site."
The planning application is expected to be decided next month.
Source - Leicester
Mercury
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