José Hampson: 'They're getting special treatment'

Gipsies who accused a grandmother of racial abuse are set to be given a new caravan site at a cost to the taxpayer of more than £500,000.

The move has outraged people living near what is currently tranquil farmland, with at least two imminent house sales said to have fallen through as a result.

The council behind the proposal has already spent £145,000 trying to throw the group off their existing camp on green belt land.

And the gipsy family meant to benefit from the new site have said there is no guarantee they would move there in any case.

The plan would see taxpayers provide a new site for five mobile homes belonging to the Linfoot family.

Last year the family claimed toy shop owner and community stalwart José Hampson, 78, had called them ‘dirty ******* gippos’ in a row over their illegal camp.

Mrs Hampson, a widowed former Sunday school teacher, was given a criminal record after being found guilty of racially aggravated harassment, but after an 11-month nightmare her good name was restored when a judge quashed the conviction.

Now the council has been told it must find the Linfoots a permanent site and residents of a quiet row of terraces this month learnt that farmland behind their homes had been chosen – despite being the most expensive of nine potential sites to develop, at £560,000.

Mrs Hampson said: ‘I don’t see why they should receive special treatment like this, especially if it means another beautiful spot is spoiled as a result.’

The proposal has led to a campaign from residents of Cowling Road, the chosen site on the edge of the Lancashire market town of Chorley.

Developing the fields - currently grazed by cattle - would require building an access road across land which is understood to have been given to the council by a former mayor for £1 on condition it was used to benefit the townspeople.

Glenn Hutchinson, landlord of the adjacent Spinners pub, said: ‘It’s not the right place, it’s as simple as that.

It’s a semi-rural location on the outskirts of town. All the residents around here are appalled we were not informed of this by the council even though dozens of others were consulted.’

The proposed site at Cowling Road on the edge of Chorley, Lancashire is currently grazed by cattle

Another resident said: ‘My fear is that they won’t stop at five caravans, we could see other travellers stopping off there as well.’

Chorley council identified nine potential sites for the Linfoots’ five caravans and earlier this month announced that it had chosen a site known as Cowling Farm.

The proposal is now out for consultation.

Chorley council had set aside £145,000 to evict the Linfoots from a plot of green belt land they own less than a mile away.

But last year it was forced to give them temporary permission to stay after the Planning Inspectorate said the council had failed to make enough provision for travellers and gipsies.

Council leader Alistair Bradley said: ‘Time and again decisions on what’s best for Chorley have been taken out of our hands by the Planning Inspectorate.’

Michael Linfoot pictured outside Preston Magistrates Court

The cost of developing the site – part of a larger plot earmarked for 158 homes – comprises a new access road, hard-standing, utilities, secure fencing and a play area.

The council may be able to claim the cost back from central government.

Despite all that, the Linfoots – who have lived in the Chorley area for 40 years – are undecided on whether they would even move in if it went ahead.

‘We haven’t even seen the site yet,’ said Michael Linfoot, a father of three whose wife Patty is governor of a local school. ‘There’s lots of details that would need to be ironed out.’

Michael Hargreaves, the Linfoots’ planning adviser, said there was a ‘chronic shortage’ of official traveller accommodation, with no new sites built in Chorley in 20 years.

Ministers introduced new rules in 2012 aimed at letting local authorities decide how to accommodate travellers.



‘This Government has scrapped Labour’s top-down targets for traveller sites, increased Green Belt protection and ripped up John Prescott’s 200 pages of politically correct guidance,’ local government minister Brandon Lewis said last night.

