Decision due on cattle market (From Wilts and Gloucestershire Standard)

Decision due on cattle market

A DECISION over whether Cirencester's cattle market can move to a new location on the edge of the town was due to be made this week.

But an 11th-hour bid to have the facility moved to an alternative site nearby, has been launched following talks with objectors.

Market managers want to relocate the existing facility to Fosse Farm at Driffield as part of a multi-purpose agricultural complex with Countrywide Farmers.

The plans have sparked controversy among some local villagers, who fear the development will create traffic problems.

An alternative application to site the facility at Ermin Farm, off the A419 near Preston, was submitted recently.

But Cotswold District Council's planning (regulatory) committee was due to consider the original proposal from landowner John Ford and market managers Voyce Pullin on Wednesday.

A report due to go before the committee said: "This is a substantial and sensitive application that has generated a deal of interest, both from the residents of Driffield and Down Ampney, and the wider farming community. The issues for consideration are wide ranging and interdependent."

Cattle market manager Voyce Pullin has been looking for an alternative site since the council announced plans to build a new leisure centre on the existing plot, off Old Tetbury Road.

Both the firm and Countrywide Farmers, whose Cirencester store burned down earlier this year, are convinced Fosse Farm, with its close proximity to the A419, is the ideal location.

The council has received 223 letters in support of the scheme, as well as a 34 signature petition.

But, villagers fear visitors to the new site will turn local lanes into rat runs. Driffield and Harnhill Parish Council, Down Ampney Parish Council and other local groups have all objected to the proposals. A further 22 letters have also been received in opposition to the plans.

And, following discussions with some of the objectors, businessman John Rawlinson, who runs Architectural Antiques Ltd at Ermin Farm has submitted an alternative proposal.

He said: "I went to a public meeting in Driffield and heard people suggesting there were no alternatives for a site.

"Since we have (an alternative) and the location is good, this is manifestly untrue."