MORE than 400 people have signed a new petition against plans to develop green belt land between Acomb and the York Outer Ring Road.

A campaign group is also being set up to address residents’ concerns about the proposals in York’s draft Local Plan to allocate fields near Wetherby Road and Knapton for a showpeople’s yard. The petition has been organised by Liberal Democrat activist and former City of York Council leader Andrew Waller, who said: “I have spent the last two weekends talking to people in Westfield and Acomb about this issue and more than 400 have signed the petition.”

The petition claims the site should continue to be included in the green belt, “as it protects the rural setting of the western approach to the city which would otherwise begin to merge with the outer ring road”.

Mr Waller said: “This responds to long-standing concern that all the fields between Acomb and the ring road will be developed.”

He said the land bordered on three wards, Rural West, Westfield and Acomb, and he was promoting an overarching campaign group to assist with addressing residents’ concerns, which would be led by Rufforth and Knapton Parish Council.

Residents from the Wetherby Road area told The Press how they were stunned when they first heard about the showpeople’s yard proposals.

“We were totally shocked,” said Jeff Fowler and Sarah Cussons, in a statement. “They have come completely out of the blue, with no warning whatsoever... The site is going to be huge. It won’t just be caravans but articulated lorries, fairground rides and equipment, trailers, repair workshops. They will just be concreting it over.”

Phil Brown raised concerns about potential sewarage problems, and asked why York was providing such a yard when other councils in Yorkshire were not.

Robert Harrison claimed: “There’s going to be noise 24/7.”

Council ‘will hear all sides’

A SENIOR councillor said City of York Council was required by law to identify land which could be granted planning permission to develop as sites for gipsies and travellers, or for showpeople.

Coun Tracey Simpson-Laing, cabinet member for health, housing and adult social services, said that if the authority did not do this, the Government had powers to identify and impose such sites where it saw fit.

“This would result in residents having no say and the council would not be able to place any location conditions on the sites – something many people, including York Outer MP Julian Sturdy, are failing to tell York residents,” she said.

“The sites proposed in the draft Local Plan were identified through the ‘Call for Sites’ process, where landowners put forward sites for this very purpose,” she said.

“These are the sites we are consulting on to establish their suitability, and if included, would be subject to the normal planning process if brought forward during the first 15 years of this plan.”

She said an extensive eight-week consultation, starting in June, would consult with residents on identified sites and work with them throughout this process. “If there are valid reasons for opposing a site, then the council is keen to hear.”