Scottish councils should create more sites for Travellers to ease tensions between them and other communities, it has been claimed.
A 48-hour eviction notice has been served on Travellers who set up an illegal camp by Montrose Golf Links on Wednesday. Although the club wanted the caravans off site by the time leading female golfer Catriona Matthews arrived to officially open the club’s newly-extended 11th hole on Friday, the Travellers said they intended to remain in situ until Sunday.
Now one woman who stays at the council-run Double Dykes Travellers’ camp in Perth said more sites need to be created across Scotland to end the friction.
Fiona Townsley (39) said that even in official sites like Double Dykes, where 20 chalets were built for Travellers four years ago, there are not enough spaces for Travellers’ caravans.
She said: ”The fact is there is only one site in Perth and Kinross and there’s only 20 pitches it’s been like that for the last 30 years. We have caravans regularly doubling up on single pitches in the site.
”Travellers need more sites, but not necessarily large ones as Travellers prefer smaller sites with just four or five pitches.”
Miss Townsley added: ”There are now a lot of Travellers who are living in houses because there is nowhere for them to go. What sites there are, like Double Dykes, are overcrowded because of people doubling up, which can be dangerous and it just makes it uncomfortable for everyone if there are too many Travellers on one site.
”You regularly hear of unauthorised encampments and people say ‘why do they not use Double Dykes?’ and the reason is that it has been full since it opened.”
Continued…
Miss Townsley said plans for new Travellers’ sites are usually abandoned because of public opposition.
”There have been talks about creating new sites in Perth forever, but nothing has ever happened,” she said. ”Travellers have been arguing for years there should be more permanent sites.
”I think there is a lot of scaremongering among councillors and councils saying there will be big sites, but we prefer smaller ones.”
Scottish Gypsies and Travellers were recognised as a distinct ethnic group in 2008 legal ruling which granted the travelling community the same legal protection as other minorities. But a report released by Amnesty International this month said Scotland’s gypsy community still faces discrimination.
The report said one of the biggest issues facing Travellers is the lack of halting or transit sites. While some councils acknowledged this is a problem, some stated that opposition from local communities stop more stopping sites from being created.
There are only 32 official council-owned sites for Gypsies and Travellers in Scotland. Three of them are only open during the summer but the rest are open all year round. Travellers must pay a weekly fee when they are staying on site.
Between 2005 and 2008 the Scottish Government offered £1 million a year to help councils build or redevelop new sites.
Twenty-two local authorities applied for grants and 18 were approved. However, all the applications were for upgrading existing sites rather than building new ones.
Perth and Kinross Council received funding from the Scottish Government to help build 20 chalets for Travellers at Double Dykes, which were opened in 2008.
A spokesman for Perth and Kinross Council said chalets for Travellers are also available at Bobbin Mill by Pitlochry and that the council is looking to provide a site for transient caravans elsewhere in Perth and Kinross.
A Scottish Government spokeswoman added: ”Since 2010/11, funding for Gypsy/Traveller sites has been rolled up into the General Capital Grant, as part of the local government settlement. As such, it is up to individual local authorities to determine how they allocate funding to meet local needs and priorities.”