Greens move to evict travellers from Falmer site

One of the first matters to be dealt with under the new Green-led council administration has been to evict travellers from a site in Falmer which has been earmarked as the home for The Keep.

The Keep at Woollards Field in Falmer is to house all the archives and historical resources of Brighton & Hove and East Sussex, but the project was at risk of being delayed at a cost of £100,000-per-month by the travellers who had parked some 25 vans on the site, which is also an area of special scientific interest.

The decision to act was taken by the new administration after yesterday’s ceremonial unveiling of Brighton and Hove’s new look city council.

Councillor Pete West, cabinet member for environment and sustainability, said: “It is regrettable that we have to evict this group of travellers, but it has not so far been possible to persuade them to move. We are taking this action now because of the work going on to move wildlife and because of the importance of The Keep project.

“The wildlife can only be moved in the spring during the breeding season and it is essential that the development of The Keep goes ahead as planned with the wildlife protected.”

In the build up to the local elections, the then-council Leader Mary Mears had questioned the Greens on the subject of travellers, while the party’s intentions has also headlined The Argus in the days following the election.

The Green Party say the issue of travellers is high on their agenda and they hope to address the problem of their being a shortage of suitable sites.

Cllr West added: “The underlying problem is the shortage of traveller sites in the city, which is something we will urgently seek to address.”

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Posted by on May 21, 2011. Filed under Brighton and Hove News,Council News,Falmer,Green Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry
  • http://twitter.com/newsbrighton/status/71715293935845376/ News From Brighton (@newsbrighton)

    Green-led council administration move to evict travellers from Falmer site – http://bit.ly/k0UHsC

  • http://twitter.com/johnshewell/status/71857768742653952/ John Shewell (@johnshewell)

    @brightonhovecc move to evict travellers from Falmer site http://t.co/qtvW5gy (via @newsbrighton)