Tuesday 11 June 2013

Quotas for Traveller sites in North Wales branded ridiculous

From the Daily Post

A PLAN for Flintshire to provide more than half of the new plots for Travellers in North Wales has been branded “ridiculous”.


The county will be asked to increase the number of pitches it offers from 66 to 102 – that’s an extra 32 – in the next three years, as part of a package to improve accommodation for Travellers and cut the number of illegal sites.

But Anglesey, Conwy and Denbighshire, where there are currently no pitches, will only be asked to provide 16 residential pitches between them. They would provide eleven, three and two pitches respectively.

Flintshire councillors slammed the proposal, which would ultimately see the total number of “residential pitches” for Travellers in North Wales increased from 78 (that’s 66 in Flintshire and 12 in Gwynedd), to 140 - including the 36 extra in Flintshire, and ten more in Gwynedd, by 2016.

A further 28 “transit caravan” pitches would be sited in Anglesey. Currently there are no official transit sites in the region but evidence showed there are about 55 of these “encampments” a year.

Flintshire County Councillor Bernie Attridge said: “I know our responsibilities to Gypsies and Travellers, but Anglesey, Conwy and Denbighshire should stop burying their heads in the sand. I will call on Welsh Government ministers to legislate to make other councils do their share.”

Fellow Flintshire Councillor Tony Sharps said: “It’s a ridiculous study. These people don’t pay any taxes, don’t contribute anything to the community and now the Welsh Government wants to encourage them into the county. Enough is enough”.

Councils must under the Housing Act 2004 meet Travellers’ accommodation needs in their Local Development Plans. Conwy’s Cabinet will today discuss proposals for the region - officially called the Gypsy Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment (GTANA), drawn up by Bangor University with Anglesey, Conwy, Gwynedd, Denbighshire and Flintshire councils.

A Conwy report on the study states: “The risk is that unlawful encampments will continue if the housing needs of Gypsies and Travellers are not met, at a cost to the authority and partners.”

Clwyd West AM Darren Millar said the identification of a potential site in Abergele had previously outraged residents.

He said: “It is critically important that (Conwy) Council listens to the views of local council taxpayers as it moves forward with any proposals to develop a site, and that any decisions have the support of communities which may be affected.”

No comments:

Post a Comment

Note: only a member of this blog may post a comment.