MORE than 1,800 people signed petitions demanding that proposals for travellers’ sites near their homes and businesses be scrapped.

Four sites in Bournemouth – three of them on green belt land – have been earmarked as possible travellers’ sites following a county-wide review.

Two petitions on the issue were presented to a full meeting of Bournemouth Borough Council.

Nine councils in Dorset clubbed together three years ago to hire consultants Baker Associates to identify possible sites.

The exercise is costing the council tax payer £244,000.

Three of Bournemouth’s proposed sites are at Throop and Muscliff and one near the Lansdowne.

Cllr Susan Phillips works near the proposed Lansdowne site and lives close to Erlin Farm.

She said: “Bournemouth is already over-stretched and the residents are frightened and asking how such a thing could be conceived. The voice of the people needs to be heard – we are a majority and they are only considering a minority.”

Alex De Freitas runs the restaurant Good Food by Alex on Lansdowne Road, 300 metres from one of the proposed sites. She presented an 815-signature petition and said 78 letters had been written to Bournemouth East MP Conor Burns.

“The local businesses and residents believe the proposed sites are wrong for travellers as well as for Bournemouth,” she said.

“The site would be highly visible to visitors arriving in the centre of town by rail or road. It could have an impact on local tourism and the local economy.

“It’s wrong for Bournemouth, as our MP Conor Burns has stated time and time again.”

Terence Edmondson presented a petition of 1,004 signatures against the plans for Throop and Muscliff and said 504 detailed objections had been sent to Dorchester, where the joint consultation exercise by councils was being coordinated.

He said the proposed sites would require sewers, toilet blocks and access for vehicles and large caravans.

And he claimed the council could face a situation similar to that in Dale Farm in Essex, where a large illegal camp arose out of a lawful settlement, leading to years of legal disputes and finally an eviction operation last year.

“The situation in Erlin Road, Careys Road and Throop Road has a disturbing similarity in that any illegal expansion would be impossible to control.”

“This site should never have been proposed at all and we would now formally ask that it be immediately withdrawn,” he said He added residents around the site had “already suffered months of stress and anxiety” over the issue.

The subject was not on the agenda of the council and residents were told council officers would prepare a report on the issue.

What you think

Joy Cox, 65, lives in a block of retirement flats near the proposed Lansdowne site.

She said: “The site is right on the edge of the Wessex Way and I don’t think it would be suitable for travellers – I’m sure they don’t want their children playing in the traffic.

“I think they should find a different area because people will feel very intimidated – a lot of people in this block can see the site from their flats.”

• Jackie Lawford, also 65, lives in the same block. She said: “We have already got drug rehab, booze rehab and a soup kitchen in the vicinity.

“There are a lot of retirement blocks in the area with people in their 80s and 90s and travellers cause an awful lot of trouble and disruption.

“This is supposed to be the gateway to Bournemouth and having a travellers’ site here is not going to enhance the area.”

The Bournemouth proposals

• 10 transit pitches off Park Road, Lansdowne (bordering the Wessex Way and a public car park off Lansdowne Road)

• Three residential pitches near Erlin Farm, Muscliffe Lane

• Five residential pitches off Careys Road, near Broadway Lane.

• Eight residential pitches at Throop Road, between Woodbury Avenue and the allotments.