PLANS for a travellers’ site near to the border of Kirklees have been abandoned.

Wakefield Council was looking at a proposal to build a traveller site on Owl Lane in Ossett.

But it’s been announced that it will no longer go ahead, something which has been welcomed by Simon Reevell, MP for Dewsbury, who backed a campaign against it.

He said: “This is fantastic news.

“Thousands of people signed the petition and hundreds came out on a Saturday afternoon to make their feelings known.

“Their hard work has paid off. I also pay tribute to Wakefield Council for listening to what local residents were saying and making the correct decision.”

The site is currently used as a household recycling centre, which is due to be decommissioned.

The MP had written to the leader of the council, Clr Peter Box, to ask him to think again about the proposed traveller site at Owl Lane.

He said it would impose on the people of Kirklees by cynically locating it on the outskirts of Wakefield.

More than one thousand people signed a petition and around 700 people attended a protest march last Saturday, which culminated in a rally at the Rams Stadium.

The Government has set out new guidelines stating that councils will soon be under no legal obligation to build a certain number of sites in their authority area.