Cllr Neil Johnson calls for end to Kenyon traveller transit site plan

Cllr Neil Johnson, a then-Labour borough and parish councillor who represents Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft, issued a statement breaking the news last Thursday.

This was that Warrington Borough Council wanted to buy Kenyon Lane Nurseries to create a long sought-after transit site for travellers.

In protest over the ‘secret plan’, which he branded ‘shady skulduggery’, Cllr Johnson resigned from the Labour party to stand as an independent and promised to fight the plans.

However, the council’s cabinet approved in principle the acquisition of the site at a meeting on Monday.

In another twist yesterday, Wednesday, the owners of a vital access road leading to the site said they ‘vigorously oppose’ the council’s plans.

Now, Cllr Johnson has called on the council to abandon its designs on the site, and to seek an alternative location.

“I am pleased to read that the owners of the access road onto the Kenyon Lane site have announced publicly that they are opposed to any plans for a gypsy/traveller transit site,” he said.

An overview of the Kenyon Lane Nurseries site. Picture: Zoopla

“I have been in contact with the landowners over the last few days, so this is a positive step forward.

“It is already obvious that Warrington Borough Council will face fierce resistance to this sale, not least from the people it is trying to buy it from.

“Its bravado on Monday night is wasting time and taxpayers’ money. It should abandon its plans now and work with councillors of all parties to find a more suitable location.”

Cllr Johnson also responded publicly after ‘several Labour councillors asked why he ‘broke confidentiality’ by revealing the location’.

“It is not true that I was ‘required’ to keep ‘any and all information regarding this issue confidential’,” he said.

“There are no legal restrictions on councillors which prevent them from making information like this public. Officers can ask, but they cannot force.

“The only exceptions would be personal information about children in care, or anything which involved the police or the courts. That criteria does not apply here.”

Cllr Johnson says that councillors saying that councillors against him revealing the location ‘are more interested in protecting the vested interests of Warrington Borough Council than they are in supporting residents’.

The proposed site would accommodate traveller caravans to reduce the number of unauthorised encampments in the town

“They are putting party before people, and that is something I will never do,” he continued.

“As an independent councillor, I do not believe in keeping secrets from residents. No public consultation was planned, and so residents of Croft would still be in the dark.

“I owe the people of Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft lots. They have always supported me and my family.

“That is why I have worked day and night to help as many people as possible in return as a parish and borough councillor.

“I will not let the people of Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft down. I spoke out because I wanted to make sure that the people were front and centre of any decisions regarding a transit site.

“I could not support any decision that was being made behind closed doors, without their knowledge.

“If being on the side of the people who voted for me means that I ‘broke confidentiality’, then I can live with that.”

In a statement yesterday, Warrington Borough Council said that, following the cabinet’s decision, it would be speaking to its agents to agree on the next steps.