Swansea Council to investigate Travellers' site shortlist

From the South Wales Evening News

GYPSY Traveller sites are coming under the microscope next week.

Swansea Council's cabinet members are set to discuss the launch of a major consultation period into how a shortlist for a second permanent site in the city was chosen.

Candidate sites have been whittled down from 1,006 to five.

This process was then reviewed by a new group of councillors following the local government election to assess that it was both reasonable and unbiased.

It will soon be internally reviewed again and externally reviewed and then, in the coming months, the public will get the chance to see how that list was made — from start to finish.

Swansea Council leader David Phillips said: "The council will be totally open and transparent in its search for a second permanent site.

Information

The public will be given all the information that was used in assessing each of the 1,006 sites.

"The public will see how sites were assessed and the reasons why sites were either rejected or accepted," he added.

The plans to be discussed by cabinet on Thursday include:

Prior to the consultation, two independent reviews (one internal and one external) will be carried out to ensure that the criteria and process used by officers in assessing potential sites were both fair and reasonable.

If the reviews give the process a clean bill of health a full public consultation will be launched.

Details of the 1,006 sites will be published, together with the officer recommendations, for members of the public to see and comment on.

After consultation full council will consider the public's feedback and decide whether any of the sites should go forward for planning permission.

Mr Phillips added: "The independent reviews will provide public reassurance that every step of the process has been carried out properly and free from bias.

"I want to stress that the cabinet report is about the consultation process. We will not be discussing any sites during the cabinet meeting.

"No decisions have been made about where a second permanent site could be created and no decisions will be made until after the public has had the chance to have their say."