PROPOSALS for a gipsy caravan site in Gobowen have met with opposition from residents and the parish council.
Shropshire Council is currently considering a planning application for a six pitch site to accommodate 12 caravans, a washroom, kitchen facilities, and the creation of new access together with landscaping, opposite the Henlle Park Golf Club.
A decision on the application is set to be made on September 6, but a statement made by the Selattyn and Gobowen Parish Council confirmed it would be opposing the application on the grounds of environmental impact and traffic safety, and claimed it would conflict with the current use of the surrounding area, which encompasses houses, the golf course, and a hotel and leisure facilities.
"Give us a chance."
However 32-year-old Michelle Berry, a Romany gipsy and mother of five, explained that she has also received a number of letters of support and would like to stay in the area where she has lived for much of her life, to enable her children to continue at their local school.
"Mr Tomley has a good business at the golf club and of course, we don't want that to change. We are not here to do any harm," she said.
"I think that people are worried that we are outsiders, but that is not the case.
"I used to go to the Marches School and have a lot of friends here. We are trying to go about things in the right way and make it nice here.
"My children enjoy going to the local school. I want them to be raised respectfully and in a decent way. We don't want to go back on the road again."
Overcrowding.
Michelle said her family have been living on the Park Hall site for more than 32 years, but due to overcrowding she has been forced to find somewhere else to live. Now she insists that she wants her family to settle here and keep themselves to themselves.
"Park Hall is packed," she continued. "There is no money to expand the site so we have had to look elsewhere.
"I'd love to be able to have the proper facilities for us here but we are not after handouts, we want to do the work ourselves.
"There is good and bad in everybody, we just want people to give us a chance, but we can't make improvements unless permission is granted."