A dedicated site for Travellers and Gypsy communities will be created next to sewage works in Reading.
Earlier this year, the council submitted a plan to make a dedicated site in Island Road, Whitley, bound by the Reading Sewage Works to its right and the Foundry Brook river to its left.
Planners said it would provide a much-needed place for the communities and would help curb unauthorised encampments elsewhere in Reading.
It was criticised by the Kennet Island Residents Management Company, which represents 3,000 residents.
Adam Boulding told a meeting of Reading Borough Council’s planning committee the site is unsafe, would be incredibly costly to build on due to soil contamination, and would negatively affect those staying there due to pollution.
“It is too light, too noisy, it is next to a sewage works. It is not next to any education, it is not next to any medical facilities,” he said.
“Every single local business objects, and every resident that I’ve spoken to has objected.”
Mr Boulding also argued another site could be found which would be safer, as the council was able to find an alternative after its aborted plan to have a Traveller site in Cow Lane, after Reading Festival organisers objected and the council chose the area for the new River Academy secondary school instead.
He said: “They [the council] are just so desperate to have this site somewhere in Reading that they are rubber stamping this and pushing this through.
“I think there are far better sites in Reading for this.
“If you actually really care about the Traveller and Gypsy Community and you actually want to provide them with a location where they can get healthcare and access to education there are far better locations than next to a dump in a place which is unsafe.”
The planning committee approved the site at a meeting on Wednesday, October 5.
It will provide seven pitches for travelling communities, with each pitch able to hold two caravans and two cars, and will come with a toilet, sink and a shower.
Additionally there will be a picnic area and play area.
The plan was approved on a temporary basis, with its use as a Traveller site given permission for 10 years.
Arguing for the approval, Rob Shrimpton, the council’s planning consultant, stated there would be a specific council officer to manage the site, based in a site office who will react to any emergencies.
When asked how travelling communities were consulted about the plan, Mr Shrimpton said: “This is a site they have used in the past, and the reality is that they would prefer a permanent site.
“There is a historic attachment to Reading because, in the past, the hospitals were being very welcoming of Gypsies, with lots of people being born there and the community, although they move around like to come back to where they were born.”
The application was approved with 11 members voting in favour, with the nine Labour councillors be joined by cllrs Josh Williams (Green, Park) and James Moore (Liberal Democrats, Tilehurst).
Conservative councillors Simon Robinson (Emmer Green) and Paul Carnell (Caversham Heights) abstained.
