Travellers who have spent the summer moving from site to site across Dundee have been “rewarded” for putting “a gun to the head” of the council, it has been claimed.
After leaving a trail of rubbish and ill feeling in their wake, they have been given a council-sanctioned home at Jack Martin Way.
Labour housing spokesman Brian Gordon said he was “seething” that their irresponsible actions had yielded such a return.
The council said it was working to find a compromise that meets the needs of everyone in Dundee, whether “settled or passing through”.
Mr Gordon, however, believes the concession is a sign the council has “caved-in” to the group, which he said has “used and abused” public spaces across the city.
His comments come amid claims that the local authority previously allowed the same group to use a controversial residential site at Mill o’ Mains.
The council announced earlier this week that it had struck an agreement with Travellers to allow them to camp on the unofficial site at Jack Martin Way, beside Fintry.
Councillor John Alexander, who brokered the agreement, said it was not a permanent but was, in the short term, the best solution though he admitted some would disagree.
The group which has previously stayed in controversial fashion on sites in Whitfield, Douglas, Caird Park and Mill o’ Mains is too big to be accommodated on the official council site at Tealing.
Mr Gordon admits he does not agree with the deal and launched an unsuccessful legal challenge to block it. He told The Courier: “I totally agree with housing convener John Alexander that alternative solutions to the Traveller issue must be considered but not this one.
“As housing spokesman for Labour I have been in dialogue with the council administration as we try and find suitable spaces within Dundee for Travellers.
“I have made it clear, however, that there is no way I would consider such an option for this individual group, which has used and abused sites across the city and has made it very clear that it has no intention of leaving.
“This group, which has left litter and waste in its wake, has held a gun to the head of Dundee City Council and has seen it cave in because it is tired of chasing them from site to site.
“I am seething about the way this has been allowed to happen and cannot understand why this particular group has been allowed to dictate policy.
“They have effectively been rewarded for refusing to leave the city.”
Mr Gordon said the group’s actions were in stark contrast to those of other Travellers albeit using illicit sites such as those who pitched up at Riverside Drive but left the area spotless when they left.
Mill o’ Mains Tenants Association spokesman Jim Malone is also angry at the situation.
He believes the council had been “proactive” in moving the group of Travellers at the heart of the furore from a previous pitch on Caird Park to Mill o’ Mains and thinks they were temporarily steered towards the residential area ahead of the move to Jack Martin Way in an effort to clear Caird Park.
A council spokesman said: “The council makes every effort to meet the needs of everyone who lives in Dundee, whether they are settled here or passing through as part of the Travelling community.
“It is the council’s role to try to reach a point where the Travelling and settled communities can co-exist and we are currently working towards getting as much detailed and accurate information as we can to help us do that.”