South Tyneside Independents» Horsley Hill & Westoe Crown » Gypsies Green

Gypsies Green – a victory for people power

As the residents of Horsley Hill will know the Independent Alliance working in conjunction with the Green Party supported the campaign of the Save Our Seafront (SOS) group which was set up to oppose the development of a hotel and conference centre on Gypsies Green.

A petition of over 8,500 signatures was raised; it was presented to Council and to the Cabinet and ignored. However the Independent Alliance has never given up and has questioned the sense of such a development over and over again in every Council meeting possible.

Then a press release from the Council was printed in the Gazette announcing that the Tavistock Group had pulled out because of the recession! This gave the Alliance an opportunity to act immediately to try to save Gypsies Green and we are delighted to announce that at a meeting of the full council on Thursday 30th July the Independent Alliance presented the following notice of motion;

‘We call upon South Tyneside Council to ensure that the site at Gypsies Green is developed for sporting facilities only, for the benefit of the residents of South Tyneside and visitors to the borough’

We are even more delighted to announce that after a small amendment the motion was passed!

We would like to thank everyone that supported the campaign, the many residents who signed the petition and the army of volunteers who visited all areas of the borough to get the petition signed.