COUNCILLORS have rejected a motion calling for a one-year deadline to select a site for the town’s £2 million transit site for travellers.

The Conservatives put forward a motion during the full council meeting at the Parr Hall on Monday evening.

Proposed by leader Cllr Kath Buckley (CON – Lymm South) and seconded by Cllr Wendy Maisey (CON – Culcheth, Glazebury and Croft), it said: “While we are happy to see that a working party has been set up to continue considering the traveller site location, to date little has been achieved.

“We put to the council the motion that the working party needs to reflect the political make-up of the council and the geographical wards of the council and that it also needs to have a clear, transparent timeline with a final proposal to be arrived at before or by the May AGM 2022.

“In addition, there should be regular updates brought to the council. We hope that all councillors will support this motion.”

Cllr Buckley clarified the party was calling for the working party to make a recommendation to the council by May 2022.

As revealed in 2015, funding has been set aside in Labour-run Warrington Borough Council’s capital budget for the facility, which would allow officers to direct groups to the land.

A task group made up of councillors was set up to identify and recommend a site to the cabinet but this is yet to happen, with significant delays over the issue.

Council leader Cllr Russ Bowden (LAB – Birchwood) labelled the motion as incompetent and highlighted the need to avoid the ‘continued clash’ between the settled community and the traveller community.

He added: “The idea that we start consulting on a number of sites is plain lunacy.”

He emphasised the need for the availability of land, along with achievability and deliverability of a site.

Furthermore, Cllr Bowden called for ‘time and space to do the job’.

Cllr Ryan Bate (LD – Grappenhall) said the decision over the transit site is probably one of the most controversial decisions facing the borough council and confirmed the Liberal Democrats will support the task group in finding the right outcome.

Independent Cllr Andy Heaver (IND – Penketh and Cuerdley) said the matter needs to be treated with some ‘sense of urgency’ and believes a target is required to ‘push this along’.

The motion put forward by the Tories, the opposition group, was rejected by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.