OPPOSITION to the proposed legalisation of a travellers' site in Sully has intensified.

The Vale of Glamorgan Council's plan to authorise the former civic amenities site as a travellers' camp is part of the local development plan (LDP) to provide land for the traveller community.

The Hayes Road site is close to Beechwood College - a specialist college for children with special educational needs - and Ty Hafan Children's Hospice and residents say they believe it is "absolutely crazy" to place the 18-caravan pitch site at this location.

They say they are are unhappy that the council did not do more to move the travellers off the site as they have been settling there illegally since 2012.

Sully Residents Association officially rejected the proposal which was set out in the LDP citing a detrimental impact on residents including the loss of privacy and the visual impact of the site as well environmental concerns.

Cllr Lis Burnett, cabinet member for Regeneration, said: “The Vale of Glamorgan Council has a legal responsibility to consider the needs of all members of the community in its local development plan.

"There is a proven and independently assessed need for permanent pitches for gypsy and traveller families in the Vale.

"In reviewing the plan, following consultation, consideration has been given to the comments made about the location of the site and it is believed that the objections raised can be managed through effective design and layout of the site."

Sully resident Lorraine Wilson said: "I believe it would be hard to think of a less suitable site in Cardiff or the Vale of Glamorgan.

"The site is on the Welsh Coastal path, the jewel in the crown for Welsh tourism, and would present an eyesore to those using it having to pass by such a site. This stretch of coastline needs to be preserved for recreational use."

Anna Miller, who has been heavily involved in the campaign against the site, questioned whether "the community really wants to risk having the site just a few hundred metres from a children's hospice", saying it's "beyond comprehension".

Concerned Sully man Kelvin Barker said: "We have worked hard to buy our property at Hayes Point, it has been devalued by the travellers, they should have never been allowed to use this site."

Saff and Paul Baker live in Kent but own a property on Hayes Point which they visit every weekend.

They said: "It would be an absolute travesty if this site was allowed to come to fruition. Sully would be blighted and it would be irrelevant how far away from the actual site you were, the impact would be felt throughout the village and Sully as it is would no longer exist."

Penarth town councillor Anthony Ernest was one of the two Vale councillors representing Sully in 2012 when the controversy over the site first began. He claims they were deposed because they were seen to be at fault over the issue, an idea which he says has no credence.

Cllr Ernest said: "One or two residents allege that supposed 'council officials' had told the travellers that they could move from the then being developed site at Harbour View, Penarth, to Sully as an alternative.

"That allegation was completely denied by both the Vale Council and the elected members, including myself, as having not a grain of truth in it, and that an internal enquiry had not identified any officer who had allegedly stated that to the travellers."

He added that with the very recent approval of the Local Development Plan for the Vale of Glamorgan, the site is identified and confirmed by the council for a permanent traveller site, and there seems little that that council will do to remove the travellers, either now or in the future."

Gypsies and Travellers' Wales said they were unable to comment on the matter.