This is not racism....

Gee, we've reduced everything down to racism...

A farmer who wrote to his council objecting to a proposed travellers’ site next to his house was accused of racism and threatened with police action.

Bryan Lee, 65, of Silverton, Devon,was shocked when officials sent a letter back warning he would be investigated if 'any more racist representations’ were sent.

In his letter, Mr Lee said that when he used to live near travellers he had experienced many problems, including fights, stolen property and out-of-control animals.

But Mid Devon District Council instantly dismissed his opposition to an application to turn a farmer’s field into a home for a family of gypsies and their horse-selling business.

The letter read: ‘It is the policy of the council, when making decisions on planning and building proposals and applications, to take no account of representations of a racist nature.

‘I have to tell you that if the council receives any more racist representations from you, this matter will be referred to the Commission for Racial Equality or the police for investigation.’

Mr Lee, who is now retired, condemned the situation as ‘political correctness gone too far’ and is seeking legal action claiming he was unfairly labelled a racist.

He said: ‘I think it is absolutely outrageous. I find it so offensive. I am so angry. I am not a racist.

‘I crafted that letter as carefully as I could. I deliberately avoided using the word “gipsy”. They have put their own interpretation on it.

‘It was a factual report of my own first-hand experience. If the council won’t even consider the sort of issues that I have raised, then they are stupid.’

The application had been put forward to change a farm field to a ‘pitch to accommodate a traveller family and one pitch for a mobile horticulture business’.

In his letter, Mr Lee wrote: ‘The number of families at any one time on the permanent site was an ongoing problem for the local authority as was the nature of business carried out on the site, including vehicle wrecking and various small-scale livestock ventures.

‘Horses were turned into my fields on a regular basis.

‘The police were regular visitors to the site, usually to trace stolen property but also to break up fights with other traveller families from other sites.’