I TRAVELLED to England from Ireland when I was a toddler. Then, I didn’t have a clue what was happening. All I knew was that we were on a boat, it was fun, and that we had a new house in a new country.

As time ticked by, mercifully, people were nice to our family. We were different. The area we moved to, up North, was unused to newcomers with their Irish accents and their white pudding and rashers and endless cups of tea. To most we were a novelty; to many, we were friends.

However, I recall as we played with the local kids that, from time to time, unkind phrases would be uttered, about where we came from, all because of our different accents and ways.

And so to Thornbury where opposition is growing against plans for a travellers’ site. The proposed site – for a traveller family with 13 children - is next to a quarry. Temporarily unused, the firm which owns the quarry has expressed opposition to the travellers living so close to the area. Their reason? Safety. According to the firm, the site has significant mineral reserves, which would pose a threat.

Now, to me, this sounds like a very understandable reason to oppose the site. It is logical, unemotional and based on fact.

But not all opposition seems to be based on the same factual reasoning. See Tytherinton Parish Council is opposing the site on what I can see are unreasonable grounds, saying as they are, that the mobile traveller homes would be out of character with the surrounding area.

To boot, Thornbury town council is claiming that the site would bring down the value of the surrounding properties. This is despite the fact that a study commissioned by Parliament found no link between the creation of travellers' sites and a drop in property value.

To me, it seems that these two councils are not being fair. They are not looking upon the travellers with clear eyes; instead it appears they are seeing what they want to see: a new family to the area about whom they have made huge, clouded assumptions.

I moved from Ireland as a toddler. That was 37 years ago. Surely, if we have learned anything in that time it is this: prejudices don’t work.

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