ODPM Committee visit to Appleby Horse
Fair, 7 June 2004
INTERVIEW WITH JIMMY COLTMAN
DAVID SMITH: This is Jimmy Coltman, he has
a site in Doncaster.
ANDREW BENNETT: So, how big a site is it?
JIMMY COLTMAN: It's only for 12 caravans.
ANDREW BENNETT: And are they—are they
all people you know?
JIMMY COLTMAN: Yes, yeah, from around the
area, you know, yeah.
ANDREW BENNETT: All right. And was it difficult
to get the site?
JIMMY COLTMAN: Yes, very. Very.
ANDREW BENNETT: So, how long did it take?
JIMMY COLTMAN: A long time. Years.
ANDREW BENNETT: Right, so what happened?
You moved on to the site and then tried to get permission or you
actually—
JIMMY COLTMAN: No, I bought the land off
my brother-in-law.
ANDREW BENNETT: Right.
JIMMY COLTMAN: Pulled a caravan on it and
the council started from then.
ANDREW BENNETT: All right, so pulled a caravan
on, yeah, and they tried to get you moved off the site?
JIMMY COLTMAN: Yeah.
BILL O'BRIEN: Right. So, what procedure
did you follow?
JIMMY COLTMAN: No, I went through the council
sending letters and trying the best to do as I could.
BILL O'BRIEN: Well, was it raised in council
or did anyone defend you?
JIMMY COLTMAN: No, because the—you're
putting me in questions I can't really answer here now because,
you know, I mean, it was—I had a battle ever since I started.
ANDREW BENNETT: And so what have you got
there now? You've got—
JIMMY COLTMAN: Well, I've got a bungalow
now on the same site. But to get planning permission for the bungalow
took me a battle. Do you understand what I'm saying? What I was
battling for other people walked in and got without the battle.
ANDREW BENNETT: Right. Gypsy people?
JIMMY COLTMAN: Yes. Oh, yes. Gypsy people,
yeah.
CLIVE BETTS: And you put toilet blocks in
and things like that?
JIMMY COLTMAN: One toilet. It's a shared—it's
just a shared toilet because we're only on cesspool, you know.
It's a toilet block of four. Four toilets and a shower.
ANDREW BENNETT: Now, is that one of the
arguments the council used, the lack of services?
JIMMY COLTMAN: No, they just didn't want
us. They just didn't want us because the simple reason is this.
They gave me—the only excuse they could give was the access
wasn't sufficient.
ANDREW BENNETT: And it wasn't greenbelt
or anything like that?
JIMMY COLTMAN: I think it was greenbelt
but greenbelt they could never do nothing with. Where I built
the bungalow on, it was backfill land filled with anything, brick
rubble. It wasn't—it wasn't even big enough to keep a good
little donkey on it. Do you know what I mean? So, the greenbelt
shouldn't have really come into the position what I was on with,
you know. But I can get—can I get back to this excuse of
the road access? They said the road access wasn't big enough or
able enough to carry it. But it was big enough to carry more sites—there's
three sites popped up after I was finally granted permission.
ANDREW BENNETT: Now, is there feeling in
the community that there are too many with the four sites?
JIMMY COLTMAN: Oh, yeah. Well, the thing
is now, they've turned into residential sites.
BILL O'BRIEN: Static caravans?
JIMMY COLTMAN: Yes these static caravans,
the sort you get when you go to the seaside. Do you understand
my meaning? They put them on the sites. They charge the people
X amount of money. My community don't like that, you get all sorts
of people, it makes me mad.
ANDREW BENNETT: Thanks very much. Nice to
have met you.
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