Elderly plea to stop new travellers' site next to school and homes
Elderly residents have launched a campaign to stop a permanent travellers' site being built beside their homes and a neighbouring school.
Wolverhampton MP Pat McFadden has promised to take up the cause of the Portobello residents with planning bosses.
The householders, mainly pensioners, say they are 'terrified' of living next to a travellers' community and are also worried the value of their homes will plummet.
Permission is being sought by landowner Michael Purcell for three mobile homes and three caravans on a residential site 'to facilitate a gypsy lifestyle'.
The application also includes the construction of a day room and utility room. The Deans Road site, which would accommodate three traveller families, is next to St Matthias School, formerly known as Deansfield Community School.
Pupils moved into the brand new building in September.
In a supporting letter to the council, the applicant's agent said the plan would help 'meet a recognised need for such facilities in the area to facilitate a gypsy lifestyle'.
But residents, who did not want to be named in case of any reprisals, said they were fearful of travellers moving in.
One of them, a 71-year-old retired fabricator, said the applicant had previously brought caravans on to the site but had been forced to remove them by the council.
He said: "During that time the travellers climbed over an adjoining fence and across a neighbour's garden – their footsteps left clear prints in the snow.
"People are frightened of them, it's a security thing. They will be too scared to go away on holiday and leave their properties because they don't trust them.
"We're all old age pensioners, except one house along here, and we don't want this kind of hassle. My wife and I have lived here for 33 years and we're thinking of selling up now, but the value of our houses will go right down when people find out there's a permanent gypsy site at the bottom of the garden.
"I don't think we should be penalised."
Another resident, a 73-year-old former shop owner, said: "It caused a lot of noise and disruption last time, and we don't want to see it again.
"Travellers' sites, by reputation, are nothing but trouble."
He said: "We could be stereotyping them, but typically travellers do not keep sites very clean. We don't want the smells, or the noise."
Mr McFadden said that if residents contacted him he would relay their concerns to the council.
"Planning matters are decided by the council but I can pass on constituents' concerns," he said about the matter.