Residents shocked by developer’s letter
Warned land would be offered to gypsy friends
A developer who told residents that he would invite “gypsies” to live on a vacant plot of land if they did not support his plans to build houses on the site has blamed his behaviour on having had “a drink”.
Landowner Wayne Rushton, 54, said he regretted sending the letter to residents of Pinel Close, Broughton Astley .
The letter, dated January 22, went on to offer £250 per house if the occupants wrote to Harborough District Council to back his application.
Recipients of the letters said they were “shocked” and “disgusted” by their contents.
The letter, a copy of which has been seen by our sister paper The Leicester Mercury, reads: “I hereby confirm our intentions should we FAIL to obtain planning permission for around 12 dwellings as per the attached plan.
“1. The land will be placed in a Limited Company without surplus fund and the land will be left to overgrow into waste land.
“2. We shall invite some of our gypsy friends to station themselves on the land for as long as they wish to stay.
“We will provide a new water supply for the gypsies.
“Regardless of our strong stance on this matter we hope you will support our pending planning application and avoid us having to take the above actions.”
Following the stated intentons, the author went on to offer cash to those who supported the scheme in writing.
The offer is stated as being conditional on a photocopy of the letter being sent to the developer and upon confirmation from the council that the letter has been received.
A second letter to residents, dated January 30, reads: “Further to my letter dated the 22 January 2018 it has been brought to my attention that the offer of £250 could be misconstrued as a bribe rather than compensation for loss of amenity space.
“We therefore withdraw offer.”
Mr Rushton, of Cannock, Staffordshire, who has been dealing in property for 34 years, claimed the letter had been sent following a call from a councillor suggesting he should not seek planning permission to develop houses on the site
He said: “The £250 was more of an incentive for amenity - we wanted them to support us.
“I must admit, when I wrote the letter I was under the influence of a drink.
“I say the letter was probably a mistake and I did the second letter the next day saying we retract the £250.
“I did regret the first letter. It was really just off-the-cuff.
“In the past couple of days, I wrote to my architect asking him to revise the plan.
“I was going to call a meeting with residents and say, ‘I have got the no squabble with people, what do you really want to see on there?’
“’Would you mind seeing buildings on there and would you mind a children’s play area?’
“I regretted the letter as soon as I sent it, I should have just bit my tongue on it.
“It is not like, at the end of the day, we are horrible people.
“I would rather the community have something they want and talk to the community because they know what they want.”
When news of the letter emerged, Jackie Duffy, manager of Leicestershire-based project GATE (Gypsy and Traveller Equalities), described it as offensive.
She said: “It’s offensive and it’s preying on negative stereotypes.
“The community is wholly working towards challenging those stereotypes.
“We support the residents in standing up to this type of behaviour.”