Stopsley Liberal Democrat Councillor Jenny Davies has welcomed Luton Borough Council’s decision to abandon its plan to double the size of the Stopsley Gypsy and Traveller site.

Councillor Davies said: “The local Police, the Government’s Environment Agency and the council’s own Traveller Liaison Officer all objected to the planned extension. The plan even went against Government guidelines on the size of traveller sites! If the council had carried out some research before putting the proposal forward they would have known the idea was crazy. Had they done so many local people would have been spared a great deal of worry.

“This is, of course, a victory for local residents who made it very clear that they were opposed to the extension of the site, with over 260 individual objections and three petitions expressing their opposition in no uncertain terms. The Council Leader claims to be listening to local people in cancelling the plan – what a pity she did not listen to the views of the Police, the Environment Agency and the council’s own Traveller Liaison Officer before launching this mad idea.”