CONTROVERSIAL plans to create a Hale Eruv are to be withdrawn.

The Trustees of the Hale Eruv Project Trust say they have decided to withdraw the application 'in the interests of communal unity'.

The proposed scheme had sparked off a welter of criticism and the formation of an action group, 'South Trafford against the Eruv' (STATE), to oppose it.

The Hale Eruv Project Trust wanted to create an eruv route around Hale to allow the orthodox Jewish community to carry or push certain items outside of their homes on the Sabbath.

This includes pushing children in push chairs, picking up or carrying items and the use of wheelchairs.

The plan would have seen the erection of 95 galvanised steel poles at 50 individual sites along a 12-mile route in south Trafford.

The majority of the poles would be approximately 6m in height and around 8cm in diameter, a similar height to a lamppost but slimmer. They would have been linked by wire, around the same width of fishing line which will link pairs of poles.

But this week, a spokesperson for the Hale Eruv Project Trust said: “In the interests of communal unity the trustees of the Hale Eruv project have, after careful consideration, decided not to proceed with their current planning application.”

Hale resident Neil Taylor, who campaigned against the plan, said: "Thankyou to Rabbi Portnoy and the Hale Eruv Project Trust Trust  for withdrawing the application.
"I believe it was the right decision for communal harmony."

The proposed eruv route map ran from the junction of Oakfield Road and Moss Lane in Altrincham; eastwards towards the junction of Canterbury Road and Clay Lane in Timperley; then southwards to Hale Street (Marriott Hotel) Hale Barns; then westwards to Bankhall Lane in Hale (near to Ashley Road junction); and northwards to Oakfield Road and Moss Lane.

There are currently ten eruv schemes in the UK and two of these are in Manchester, located in Salford and Whitefield.