MORE than 2,000 people have signed a petition objecting to the idea of siting a permanent travellers' site near the Cherry Tree Nursery in Bournemouth.

Managers of the nursery, which provides work for 150 people with severe and enduring mental illness, say they have been overwhelmed with the level of support they have received.

The petition will be presented to Bournemouth councillors tomorrow night(Tuesday), urging them to rule out the possibility of locating a travellers' site near the Northbourne nursery.

The council originally hoped to build a 36-caravan site on land at Millhams but was forced to go back to the drawing board when environmental tests proved the site was contaminated.

The Northbourne site, which had previously been deemed unsuitable, was brought back into contention along with two others at Townsend and Westbourne.

Officers were also instructed to see if there were any other possibilities that had been missed.

Jane Nicholls, assistant manager of the Cherry Tree Nursery, said: "It was a difficult decision to campaign against the idea of a site near us because travellers are a stigmatised group, much like people with mental illness.

"But our volunteers became anxious, they were finding it difficult, and so we objected on the grounds of possible upset to the volunteers.

"It is absolutely not about objecting to the travellers having a permanent site.

They should have one. It is about the fact that our volunteers are vulnerable and the two groups just would not mix.

"We do feel that we have argued our case well and all we can do now is hand our petition over and wait and see what happens."

  • The two groups wouldn't mix and it would make many of us feel unable to attend': Cherry Tree volunteers speak out - see Letters, pages 18-19