Moray paying highest price in Scotland to clear Travellers' sites

From STV Local

Moray Council is paying a higher price in dealing with unauthorised Travellers’ sites than any other Scottish local authority.

Figures revealed this week show that almost £400,000 has been spent by local councils on legal fees and clearing up illegal encampments over the last three years.

Moray Council has topped the list with £133,289 having been spent, that sum including staff costs and the cost of developing the former Chanonry site in Elgin.

In 2010 councillors rejected plans that would have seen the establishment of two official Travellers’ halts in Forres and Buckie. That decision came after months of consultations with major opposition coming from residents around the planned locations in Arradoul and Kingsmeadow.

Several unofficial camp sites have been set up since while a site near Lhanbryde was built by a Traveller’s family without permission. A decision on the future of that site is still to be finalised with the property owners having been given time to put forward a second retrospective planning application.

Fochabers/Lhanbryde councillor Douglas Ross spoke out strong against that decision. He said: “The amount of money spent by this small authority will be galling to many council tax payers who saw budget cuts to services they receive while over a hundred thousand pounds was being spent on dealing with illegal Travellers’ sites.

“What is even harder to understand is the fact that despite the council spending this amount of money we still saw officers refuse to take enforcement action when an illegal site was established near Lhanbryde, and officers also recommended that this illegal site be subject to another planning application almost identical to one previously refused by councillors and a Scottish government reporter.

“Legal advice contributed to some of the money spent on dealing with unauthorised sites and I am sure many will ask if it was worth it when Moray council seems content to do nothing with illegal sites as is the case at Doohill near Lhanbryde.”

Only one other Scottish council has seen a six-figure sum spent on clearing up traveller sites, the bill for Aberdeen having reached £114,925.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “We fully recognise that unauthorised camping is a sensitive and challenging issue.

“We continue to engage with local authorities to ensure any approach to move Gypsies/Travellers strikes an appropriate balance between the needs of members of the settled community.

“We are about to start working with stakeholders to consider further the options available to overcome these issues.”