No simple solution to a big fat Gypsy dilemma - Leicestershire

From the Leicester Mercury

Attempts to create new legal Traveller sites have proved controversial, but David Maclean says the city mayor deserves credit for grabbing this political hot potato.

It's the city council's big fat Gypsy problem – where do you put scores of travellers without upsetting the local community? Last month the authority came up with three preferred sites – all in Beaumont Leys.

Then, earlier this week, the full shortlist from which those were whittled down was revealed. It showed that a further four sites in Beaumont Leys had been shortlisted as suitable sites by the council, as well as one in Aylestone.

All eight sites are now in play, after public outcry over the original three sites sent the council back to the drawing board.

Behind the push to create new legal Traveller sites is city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, and his name is surely mud among some of the residents who could see Travellers living next door.

However, he is right to persevere with his plans.

There's no political gain to be had here, no sweetener for potential voters. It's a headache he's enduring through principle.

At the moment, if gypsies pitch up illegally in an area, the council can move them on – but it makes no sense moving them on if their only option is to set up camp at another illegal site.

Seeing Gypsies kicked from pillar to post might satisfy some residents who harbour a misguided view that, if Travellers are moved on and hassled enough, they will eventually settle down in a nice semi-detached house somewhere.

But that won't ever happen.

Of course I'd feel unhappy if a Traveller site was proposed right next door to me and I sympathise with those who are concerned.

But I'd certainly be more tolerant if there was a nice belt of grassland between a Gypsy site and my house, as some of these proposed sites have.

When the proposed sites were announced, I drove out to each of them. One of them already had Travellers pitched illegally there. Up at Greengate Lane, the site which has provoked the most public outrage so far, there are caravans and other vehicles parked up.

It's being used as a Traveller camp now, so why not formalise it, manage it properly, and make sure the council can bring in some income through rent and council tax?

It's a fair distance from nearby homes, and it really is difficult for me to see what additional disruption would be caused compared to what's already there.

Campaigners against the sites have showered the city council with freedom of information requests about its existing legal site at Meynell's Gorse in a bid to try to find new angles to oppose the moves.

For example, they have asked for the rate of rent defaults. But it turns out they're about the same as council tenants across the city. And they've asked how many Gypsies have been evicted from the site in recent years, but the answer is none.

The site at Meynell's Gorse is so well-managed that some people I spoke to in the area didn't even know there was a camp nearby.

The people of the city are being given a choice – the current situation sees travellers randomly selecting plots of council land and setting up, potentially causing disruption, then being pushed on.

The option now on the table is three fixed sites, well-hidden by shrubbery and trees, managed directly by the authority, with council tax and other charges levied on those using the site.

Nonetheless, putting Gypsy sites in a Labour stronghold such as Beaumont Leys will do nothing but lose Sir Peter and his colleagues popularity.

But elected mayors with guaranteed four-year terms were created, in part, to brave the difficult decisions which council leaders often balked at.

By grabbing one of the biggest hot potatoes in local government, Sir Peter is showing his mettle.