Tatton MP Esther McVey has announced that nearly £100,000 will be handed to Cheshire East and Cheshire West to help in the fight against rogue developments on Greenbelt – including traveller settlements and illegal car parks.
In her role as Housing Minister she said 37 areas will share £2 million to ensure the greenbelt remains untouched and protected. Cheshire East will be given £50,000 and Cheshire West and Chester £49,946. The money can be spent as they see fit to tackle individual problems in the area but the Government has suggested it could be used to hire more enforcement officers.
Ms McVey said: "We have a great team which works across both councils to tackle any problems caused by travellers and ensure they are moved on quickly. Across both council areas there are dedicated traveller sites which provide amenities so there is no excuse for illegal encampments. It is not acceptable that people have others pitch up on their land illegally and are left footing a bill for clear up costs.
"I am sure this extra money will help the teams working across the area to protect our greenbelt and I will be speaking with the councils to find out how they will be putting the money to best use."
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Once we are beyond the jurisdiction of the EU it will be possible to prevent the unbridalled misuse/abuse of the current liberal laws that give these itinerate minorities so much behavioral leeway over the bulk of the taxpaying, law abiding general public.
The traveller community we suffer today bears no resemblance to the quaint and eccentric friendly folk of a bygone era - they consist mainly of chancers, dodgers and rogues, offering little and contributing little more than nothing to our economy and wellbeing
....and my apologies in advance to any traveller families that do not fit the aforesaid description.
We had a problem earlier in the year with a few Travellers settling up camp at Wilmslow Leisure Centre and then subsequently The Park in Alderley Edge. However, they were moved on pretty quickly under powers that already exist.
Why spend £2m across 37 areas to protect access to Greenbelt Land? The land is already protected and the landowners already have a mechanism by which to deal with encroachment - a mechanism that we (the taxpayer) are already funding.