Travellers want to get on with their lives, Gypsy Council tells site demonstrators in Swansea - Glamorgan

From the South Wales Evening Post

TRAVELLERS just want to live quietly with their families and get on with their business, protesters have been told.

The message from the Gypsy Council comes after a weekend demonstration against the possible creation of a site in Gorseinon, which saw more than 1,000 local residents turn out to voice their opposition.

Swansea Council has drawn up a shortlist of five potential sites across the city, which it is obliged to provide, with two of them in Gorseinon.

They are either side of Heol y Mynydd, one on Melin Mynach, and the other on land on the opposite side of the road which is earmarked for a cemetery.

The other sites under consideration are in Swansea Vale, Milford Way in Penderry ward, and the former greyhound racing track in Ystrad Road, Fforestfach.

Last week, hundreds of residents also turned out to express their opposition to the Ystrad Road site being developed into a site.

But the Gypsy Council, which represents gypsies nationwide in all aspects of their need, said residents had nothing to fear over the potential new sites.

Gypsy Council president Hughie Smith said: "People just want to get on with their business and live their lives with the local community, and raise their families. They want to live quietly, and send children to school. And they manage the sites, and keep them in order, such as in Pyle or Neath Port Talbot.

"The problem is there is a lack of sites in Swansea, and the demand is there.

"If you don't create a big enough plot, then you are going to come back to the same problem in a year or so's time.

"But there is nothing to worry about — Travellers want to live their lives like everyone else."

Consultation over the proposed sites finishes at the end of March, and residents are urged to have their say.