Gipsies: We don't want to move into Mobberley (From Warrington Guardian)

Gipsies: We don't want to move into Mobberley

MYSTERY this week surrounded a pocket of land that gipsies are expected to make their home.

A caller claiming to be a spokesman for landowner Paul McMahon said the field in Mobberley had been sold.

"Mr McMahon does not want to speak to any more newspapers about it now," he said.

Last week a source at Macclesfield Borough Council tipped off the Knutsford Guardian saying gipsies would be moving on to Chestnut Tree Farm before the weekend.

But this week there was still no sign of travellers at the site near Blakeley Lane.

Neighbours in nearby Holt Gardens were told of the gipsies' plans by a visitor to their homes.

On Monday, resident Lord Carlisle QC said his neighbours did not know if the land had been sold.

"Nothing has moved on as far as we know," he said. "From our point of view maybe, if it came at a reasonable price, there might be somebody willing to buy the land."

Mr McMahon is one of a growing number of landowners offering to sell land to gipsies.

Last week Richard Scott, who runs successful car boot sales in Ollerton and Marthall, said travellers were also interested in his fields near Chelford.

In January the Romany Guild, which acts as a self-help group for its members, submitted plans for at least six gipsy families to move onto Chestnut Tree Farm.

But on Monday spokesman Donald Kendrick said they were no longer interested. He said they were now concentrating on three disused caravan parks, including one in Cambridgeshire.

"We started off being interested in Mobberley but there were problems with the houses nearby," he said. "It may have been sold now for more than we were willing to pay. When local people hear about us moving in they double the price and we can't afford it because we have limited funds."