Struggle to find emergency site for Travellers in Peterborough - Cambridgeshire

From the Peterborough Telegraph

A proposal for a Travellers’ site - or sites - in Peterborough has yet to be agreed, despite it being two years in the making.

A cross-party working group was set up by Peterborough City Council in 2011 to consider where facilities could be provided for Travellers to camp legally for short periods.

Peterborough MP Stewart Jackson met with the group on Friday and revealed on Twitter that a proposal has yet to be agreed, writing “no site identified yet”.

It had been suggested that Newborough village may have been chosen to host the emergency campsite.

The council’s head of neighbourhoods Adrian Chapman said: “It has taken longer than some people may have liked for the cross-party group to finalise its recommendations. This is because we appreciate this is a matter of great sensitivity which will impact on residents in our communities and therefore the working group has taken time to carefully consider its position.”

He added the process had been affected by the large number of illegal campsites in the city this summer.

Mr Jackson said the matter had “dragged on”, but it was important the group found a location which met with “broad approval”.

He said he understood a proposal would be ready for cabinet in November and called for transparency. He said: “People need to know the methodology and the way any decision has been reached.”