Councillors asked to back official sites for Travellers at Crail, Cardenden and Cairneyhill
Dedicated stopover sites for gypsy Travellers are set to be established near Crail, Cardenden and Cairneyhill.
- By Craig Smith
- Published in the Courier : 22.08.11
- Published online : 22.08.11 @ 12.50pm
Fife's housing and communities committee will be asked on Tuesday to support plans to apply for temporary planning permission for the three sites, although the concerns of communities living nearby will almost certainly be raised before the proposals get the go-ahead.
The local authority's Cooperation Policy commits to between six to eight stopover sites across Fife to cater for Travellers passing through during the travelling season of March to October.
Council officials reckon the proposals will also have a positive impact on communities, as it should reduce the number of unauthorised encampments in Fife each year.
Housing management and homelessness senior manager John Mills said: "If councillors agree with the recommendations at committee this will be an important next step in the process to create effectively managed stopover sites in Fife.
"If these sites are approved we will then apply for temporary planning permission. If that permission is granted, these sites will offer a short-term temporary place to allow gypsy Traveller families to live in a managed environment as opposed to current unauthorised sites."
Although his report on the issue concedes stopover sites near any community will be "controversial", head of housing and neighbourhood services Derek Muir will tell councillors the sites at Crail, Cardenden and Cairneyhill offer the "most viable" options over the short term.
"The provision of three stopover sites at this stage will not be a panacea to the negative issues arising from some non-cooperative gypsy Travellers encamped on unauthorised sites," he said. "However, it is a significant start to the process of meeting the main objective of providing a range of six to eight sites to minimise the need for unauthorised encampments in Fife."
Around £15,000 is likely to be spent on creating the three stopover sites and all three would be reviewed after 18 months in consultation with local groups, which are also expected to be set up to try to mitigate the impact on the sites' immediate neighbours.
Four sites at Crail, Cardenden, Cairneyhill and Crossgates were shortlisted by the council's Gypsy Travellers Working Group following input from council services and Traveller representatives themselves. It was felt the Crossgates site, the layby on the B925, was too close to the high-speed road and could jeopardise the safety of families with children.
In Crail, the former waste management area at Kilminning has been identified, although the council has been asked to prevent further caravan access to the rest of the Kilminning picnic area by means of a barrier.
Cardenden's site at Pitcairn has already attracted opposition.
Committee members will also be told that there is no support for the proposal in Cairneyhill, although there is recognition the site on the former road adjacent to the B9037 has been used by Travellers for years. The site there is owned by a private landowner who is said to be willing to take the plans forward.
Mr Muir added that the all four of the initially proposed sites had undergone a full consultation process.
"Whilst, not surprisingly, a range of concerns were expressed about the need for sites next to local communities, there were genuine issues raised about ground conditions, traffic speeds, access to the sites, and how the sites are to be managed," he said.
Councillors will hear the council's ability to seek an eviction order from sheriff or high courts to remove Travellers from unauthorised encampments will be hampered if it does not have established stopover sites.
02.08pm - 23.08.2011 James Hunter - Cairneyhill, Fife Report This
Could the council give the dates and times of the consultations regarding the site in Cairneyhill. I have never seen anything about any meeting about this matter and I would not have missed any meeting regarding this issue.
03.20pm - 23.08.2011 W Robertson - Crail, Scotland Report This
I thought the Crail site was contaminated and thats why the buildings there were knocked down and buried? Even though they were a scheduled ancient monument at the time!
05.36pm - 23.08.2011 A. Macdonald - Cairneyhill, Scotland Report This
Mr. Muir, there has been no consultation for the Cairneyhill site with either the village of Cairneyhill or neighbouring Torryburn. Perhaps you could notify Courier readers where this consultation is listed in Fife Council's own consultation diary.
07.03pm - 23.08.2011 Fiona - Cardenden, Scotland Report This
I am not aware of any public consultation happening with regard to the Pitcairn site.
08.19pm - 23.08.2011 f.m. - edinburgh, scotland Report This
Why? They won't use them, it's almost in the traveller's DNA.
07.22am - 24.08.2011 KS - Kirkcaldy, Scotland UK Report This
Looks like Fife Council has an agenda here. I certainly couldn't imagine something like this happening without huge input from the local community.
12.44pm - 24.08.2011 Ronald Yeoman - Cardenden, United Kingdom Report This
Consult - No Insult!!! Cardenden "the pits of Fife"
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