MASSIVE OPPOSITION TO ERUV

THE PROPOSED eruv in Hale, Greater Manchester, is under threat after a huge number of complaints from residents.

By Wednesday evening, more than 900 objections had been registered through the Trafford Council website. There were barely 100 expressions of support.

A senior Jewish community source ridiculed the way the issue had been handled by the eruv proposers, describing the process as an “absolute, fundamental cock-up. I hope they withdraw.”

It was “obvious” how to win over the council and wider community. “You get people who disagree with you involved. They just haven’t done it.”

Moves towards a local eruv date back to 2000. Revised proposals were drawn up after an angry public meeting two years ago.

Rabbi Joel Portnoy, who heads the Hale Eruv Project Trust, was unavailable for comment. Zoe Ensor from PPS Group, which conducted the consultation, defended the process. “It has been a robust consultation,” she said. “There have also been specialists brought in to look at ecology, trees, highways and heritage.”

Patrick Myers — a Conservative councillor who has claimed an eruv could lead to “an increase in antisemitism” — also criticised the consultation effort.

“It’s basically been telling the public what they’re going to do, with no feedback.

“It hasn’t been explained well to people to a large extent. It’s really damaging relations between the Jewish community and the wider resident population.

“The area is very cosmopolitan. Orthodox Jews are in the minority and people feel the Jewish community is trying to get one over on the rest of them.”

In Northern Ireland, where the councillor spent his childhood, “people hang flags on lampposts to tell people that it is a Catholic or Protestant area.

“When communities start saying ‘this is my area’, it tends to ghettoise the area.

“There’s nothing wrong with attracting Orthodox Jews but it does concern residents.

“If the Church of England wanted to put flags or crucifixes up, I would oppose it. I don’t think it’s appropriate in this part of the world.”

Councillor Myers also reported an increase in antisemitic graffiti in the area since the eruv plan was revived.

It’s been an absolute cock-up. I hope they withdraw’