Swansea's second Gypsy sites short-list goes online — public to give views

From the South Wales Evening Post

EVERYTHING Swansea Council has discussed about creating a second Gypsy Traveller site goes online today

All documents from the process to whittle 1,006 sites down to a shortlist of five will be available to the public over the next three months.

The final five shortlisted are identical to a list revealed in the Evening Post in April this year.

Council leader David Phillips said: "The council wants the public to play a full part in this process and people will have until the end of March to give us their views."

The publication of the documents follows an internal and external review of the process through which a short-list was created. Councillors were briefed last night and as they entered the Civic Centre they were greeted by campaigners protesting against a second site in Llansamlet.

Separate legal reviews of claims that an agreement was made by the old West Glamorgan County Council to not place a second site in Llansamlet were carried out by the council's monitoring officer and one of the UK's leading barristers in constitutional matters. They concluded no such agreement had taken place.

Mr Phillips added: "The council is committed to making this an open and transparent process.

"People will be able to see the details of all 1,006 sites, the criteria used to assess each site and how those sites were filtered down to 19 and then five.

"The public have access to the documents so that they play a full part in the process.

"No decisions have been made on a second site and it is vital that people give us their views so that we can take them into account during the next stage of the process to identify a second permanent site."

People can give feedback online. There will be computer access at the authority's libraries and feedback forms for residents. Anyone without computer access can view hard copies and fill out consultation forms in the Civic Centre between January 21 and 25.

www.swansea.gov.uk/sgts

THE five sites are:

1. Former Greyhound

Stadium (Cockett)

2. Rear of Parc Melyn

Mynach (Gorseinon)

3. Proposed Cemetery

(Gorseinon)

4. Swansea Vale

(Llansamlet)

5. Milford Way

(Penderry)