Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Action to evict travellers from Scotland’s first food and drink park

Travellers at the Food and Drink Park.
Travellers at the Food and Drink Park.

Council bosses are moving to evict Travellers from Scotland’s first food and drink business park.

Caravans have pitched up at the much-heralded, multi-million-pound estate on the outskirts of Perth.

They rolled on to the site as Perth and Kinross Council confirmed it had abandoned long-standing plans to establish a dedicated halting site for Travellers.

The move has been criticised by one councillor, who said the local authority was letting down the community.

Council officers have spent five years searching for a suitable site for caravan convoys. The aim was to offer Travellers a dedicated stop-off point with access to facilities, while cutting down on illegal camps popping up around the region.

The proposal was part of a strategy drawn up with the help of NHS Tayside and Police Scotland to “meet the future needs” of the travelling community.

The local authority confirmed on Wednesday that it had dropped plans to establish a new site, and will instead put the earmarked £46,000 into improving existing camps used by Gypsies and Travellers.

It emerged that the proposal had been quietly killed off during private talks earlier this year.

A report to councillors stated: “The scope of work proposed under the Gypsy Travellers Transit Sites project is being reviewed, and a new business case is being prepared.

“To reflect this, it is proposed to change the name of the project to Gypsy Travellers Site Improvement Works.”

Councillor Pete Barrett criticised the council for changing its strategy.

“Despite my opposition the council decided, in a private meeting, not to progress with any of a significant number of temporary site options for Gypsy Travellers,” he said.

“This was in spite of the large numbers of the Gypsy Traveller community travelling through the area.

“With no approved transit sites, to which Gypsy Travellers can be directed for short stays, informal sites can spring up anywhere and council and police powers to deal with them are limited.”

He said: “The council have effectively abandoned Gypsy Travellers in transit and they are forced to endure temporary encampments sometimes a mile away from fresh water, power and proper toilet facilities.

“The council’s approach sadly fails to treat the Gypsy Traveller community with proper respect and the issue has been swept under the carpet.”

The council operates two authorised sites – a total of 26 units – at Double Dykes, on the western edge of Perth, and Bobbin Mill in private woods near Pitlochry.

Now the local authority is preparing to take action to force Travellers out of its food and drink park.

A council spokeswoman said: “We will serve notice on the encampment (at the food and drink park) by the end of the week, which will require the site to be vacated within 24 hours.

“Once the site has been cleared we will install concrete bollards on the internal road to prevent further encampments.”

The business park, which aims to attract the biggest names in Scotland’s food and drink sector, is due to open later this summer.