News

Overwhelming response to petition will warrant council debate

The site has been in operation since 1978

by Laura Hastings

The controversy over the closure of the Baltic Wharf caravan site continues in Bristol

The plans to shut popular caravan site Baltic Wharf, overlooking Bristol’s docks, have hit another snag. Since the closure was announced, a petition has been circulated, gathering more than 3,500 names. CaravanTimes has been following this story from the beginning, click here click here to read the first report from March.

Whenever a petition reaches over 3,500 signatures, it automatically warrants a debate at full council. At the time of writing, the petition currently stands at 3,694 signatures. This is the eighth highest number of names ever collected for a Bristol campaign, since the city council began hosting e-petitions on its website.

The man who started the petition, Matthew Gibbs, hopes that the topic of the closure will be added to the agenda for the July 20 meeting. He spoke about his mission to stop the closure, stating: “I’m over the moon to be able to represent the views of individuals and organisations which will be impacted, with more than a million pounds a year being stripped out of the community if this goes ahead.”

The city council says the land is required to provide a much-needed primary school, and that the caravan site would be helped to find a new premises. Hilda Kalap, spokeswoman for the city council, has aid that the petition will be checked by council staff to ensure that there is no duplication of signatures.

The new primary school proposed would accommodate 420 children, opening in September 2015.