Dundee City Council is set to spend almost £250,000 upgrading the city’s only official Travellers’ site at Balmuir Wood.
Balmuir Wood sits beside the Murroes/Tealing junction on the A90 Dundee to Aberdeen dual carriageway.
Although Angus Council owns the land, there is an agreement in place for Dundee City Council to run the facility.
In January, The Courier reported how a Freedom of Information Request (FOI) revealed the site had been lying virtually empty for all but six months since 2019.
The FOI also showed that Dundee City Council’s repair and maintenance bill for Balmuir Wood in that five year period was £335,659.
Balmuir Wood work will last until June
Now, councillors have approved a tender for further works to be carried out at the site.
According to a council paper, the latest works comprise of full upgrading works to the amenity blocks.
This will include replacement windows and external doors, kitchen and utility upgrade works, replacement shower-room fit-out, general electrical upgrade and redecoration
throughout.
The repairs are scheduled to run from April until June.
The total value of the work is listed at £236,656 – which will be funded from the local authority’s 2025-2030 capital plan.
How well-used is Balmuir Wood?
Information obtained by The Courier through a FOI showed that as of January, Balmuir Wood Travellers’ site had been unoccupied for 17 months of the past 72.
And just one pitch was in use for 44 months – 60% – of that period.
The highest occupancy came during the winter period of 2021/22 when eight caravans pitched up between November and March.
The Courier has previously reported on the rise in illicit Traveller camps in Dundee in recent years.
Since the beginning of 2022, a total of 22 Traveller encampments have been reported to Dundee City Council.
Of these, only one was reported in 2022, while six were reported in 2023 and 15 in 2024.
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