Last-ditch protest staged over Coseley traveller transit site

A last-ditch protest has been staged by placard-waving campaigners just days before work is due to begin on a temporary traveller site.

Campaigners fighting the plans challenged members of the committee at the site during their visit

Residents turned out to meet Dudley Council's Scrutiny Committee members who were visiting the earmarked site in Budden Road, Coseley.

The council will decide on Monday night whether the £300,000 site should go ahead.

At the meeting council bosses will mull over a report by the Scrutiny Committee on whether Budden Road is suitable after investigating complaints of contamination.

In January, the committee called the transit camp plans in for scrutiny, on the back of complaints from the community about contamination at the site from previous industries.

The scrutiny committee discussed the matter and decided to carry out a site visit.

Campaigners met councillors and officials to voice their concerns

Residents and businesses in Coseley have been fighting the plans since they emerged in 2017.

They hoped that intervention by the scrutiny committee, which has delayed building work, would put a halt to the plans completely.

The Budden Road site has already been scrapped once, back in February 2019, due to a change in party leadership at Dudley Council.

Labour scrapped the move after taking back control of the council from the Tories but the Conservatives has since regained power.

But council leader Patrick Harley has warned residents that contractors will be on site Tuesday - the day after the council meeting - to begin work.

Tony Sheldon, one of the campaigners, called the site visit a "farce" and believes the decision is already a "forgone conclusion".

The committee also visited another site contender on Thursday at Birmingham Road, Stourbridge, close to the tip.

Work could start as early as next week if the scheme gets the go-ahead on Monday

Mr Sheldon, aged 72, from Gough Road, has had suspicions Coseley has been chosen because it is a Labour-held ward.

He said: "None of the Conservative committee members turned up.

"They turned up with a completely different set of plans. There wasn't any concrete plans. How would vehicles get up a ramp on the grass?

"It was ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous."

An agenda item at Monday night's meeting will give council bosses the option of either approving the Budden Road plans or referring them back to the Housing cabinet member.