We don’t care if your mummy and daddy are dead

WHEN planners got an application for a new orphanage, they didn’t expect any opposition.

Surely the kind people of Splint, Cumbria, would welcome the tragic tots into their community and bring some cheer into their blighted lives? Not a bit of it. Because the row over the St Jude’s Orphanage has become the most bitter in Cumbrian planning history with NIMBY locals taking to the streets to protest against the development, cramming the local paper’s letters page with furious comments and THREATENING councillors on the planning committee.

On Thursday the pressure group No Dirty Orphans in Splint ( NoDOS) staged their latest protest on the proposed site and tempers are still running high.

NoDOS chairman Malcolm Stear, 63, raged: “Why on earth should we have our lovely town ruined forever just because these young hooligans’ mothers and fathers have died?

“I’m sure it’s all very sad, but it is not our problem. Presumably these children’s parents died of drugs or in gang fights, so they are from rotten stock, the sort we’ve been trying to keep out of Splint for 30 years now.

“The effect it will have on house prices is catastrophic.

“Orphans are also known to carry lice, attract vermin and are not house trained. ‘ NO ORPHANS’ is our battle cry and that will remain.”

But not everyone is against the orphans.

Local councillor Susan Maple, a member of the Splint District Planning Committee, voted to allow the orphanage.

She said: “I had rocks thrown at my house, dog excrement put through my letterbox and even death threats in the mail.

“One threat suggested my own children would be orphans unless I withdrew my support for the orphans.”

The planning application is due to go before the full council later this week.