Decision on traveller transit site moved to next year
Council bosses have decided to delay making a decision for the proposed traveller transit site in Wolverhampton until next year.
Wolverhampton Council will meet on January 14 to discuss the site after receiving a number of complaints from the community.
Planning chiefs now want more time to consider the application.
Tim Johnson, chief executive at Wolverhampton Council said: "It’s important we properly consider the application and the representations that have been made before it goes to planning committee.
"Therefore, the application has been deferred until January."
The council wanted to build a £1 million transit site in the city to cater for up to 13 traveller families.
A plot of tree-covered land the size of a football pitch was earmarked off Gorsebrook Road, Whitmore Reans, which would allow them to stay for up to 28 days when they arrived in the city.
But concerns were raised about the proposed location of the plot – and why the council had picked such a deprived area.
The council recently achieved a High Court injunction banning travellers from dozens of sites in the city – it came after the city had been blighted by rubbish and damage caused by illegal encampments, which cost taxpayers around £350,000 a year.
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- Fury over traveller transit site plan laid bare at meeting
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- Anger over 'unwanted' traveller camp plans for Wolverhampton
- £1 million traveller site planned behind Wolverhampton homes
It came after businesses on Wolverhampton Science Park hit out at the plans in recent days
The scheme would see travellers given a section of the Science Park car park 500 metres away to leave their cars and vans.
Simon Bromley, who runs Science Park firm Tang Solutions, says he has suspended staff recruitment until the council has made a decision on the site.