Furious residents have joined David Blunkett to fight plans for a new gypsy site on a residential street - which the MP warned could ignite a "tinderbox" of ethnic tensions. The site - a former woodyard on Abbeyfield Road, Pitsmoor, near the junction of Holtwood Road - is one of three identified in the city as new locations to house travellers. New gypsy camps could also be sited off Sicey Avenue, between Firth Park and Shiregreen, and on Ross Street, off Main Road, Darnall. The proposals were revealed for the first time in the draft Sheffield Development Framework, approved for public consultation by the city council, which earmark sites around the city for development in coming years. The council says it needs to provide 29 additional plots for gypsies on top of existing sites at Halfway and Redmires. Brightside and Hillsborough MP Mr Blunkett, whose constituency includes Burngreave, said:"It's an area of major deprivation with a major issue around community cohesion. The last thing you do is put a travellers' site there. "Where you add one problem on top of another and another so even the most understanding residents feel under strain, you create a tinderbox of tensions." Mr Blunkett added: "The area has very large challenges - in particular integration of existing Slovak and Roma populations - and I would be concerned about the impact of an influx of travellers. "The disruption which would be caused by traveller families bringing their children into schools and taking them out again after a few weeks would be devastating. "Some schools are already subject to very challenging conditions and this could finish them as parents of other children take them elsewhere."
Seven residents attended Sheffield Council's cabinet, where the draft document was passed, after being alerted to the proposals by Burngreave councillor Ibrar Hussain. Ann Claytor, of Abbeyfield Road, said: "What makes them think Burngreave can cope with another influx of people with health and social needs?" Fellow Abbeyfield Road resident Gwyn Fields said: "The area is already saturated with transient groups and is fragile. Would it take much to tip the balance?" Other residents were unhappy about the impact of the scheme on "quality of life" and of extra traffic and parked cars, particularly on children crossing the road to Abbeyfield Park. Coun Hussain said: "The campaign starts now to stop this development." Coun Peter Price, who represents Shiregreen and Brightside and chairs the North East Community Assembly, is opposing Pitsmoor plans and those for Sicey Avenue. He said: "Both sites are surrounded by homes and, in the case of Sicey Avenue, is overlooked by new flats, many of which have yet to be sold. "Gypsy sites need space to facilitate the livelihood of site users, such as small scale industrial activity, metal sorting and needing commercial vehicles. "This will cause a considerable nuisance to nearby neighbours. How any planning authority could contemplate this is beyond our comprehension and we believe would not be tolerated in any other area." Coun Penny Baker, Sheffield Council cabinet member for housing, said: "This is a consultation document and nothing is set in stone. Everything said in response will be taken away and used when developing the final document."
The Star
