Second Travellers site plan due to be thrown out at council meeting - Swansea

From the South Wales Evening Post

SWANSEA councillors are expected to reject a short-list of two locations for a new Travellers site when they meet later.

Every member of the local authority has been called to an extraordinary meeting at the Civic Centre, where an officers' report into the scheme is due to be discussed.

Originally, five sites had been proposed as potential homes for Travellers in the city but they were whittled down to just two — the former greyhound racing track in Fforestfach, or land off Peniel Green Road in Llansamlet.

But council leader David Phillips said in an email, leaked to the Post, that he and his cabinet colleagues wanted to throw out the recommendations on the table.

He underlined he had "significant and fundamental" concerns over where the new site should be and said it was vital the right decision was made.

Further talks were held on Thursday night by the Labour group as to whether to reject the report. But Labour councillors approached by the Post have declined to comment on what took place — although they are expected to reject the report.

Mr Philips, in a statement to the Post, previously said: "The views expressed in my email were my personal views arrived at following careful consideration of the report going to council."

Discussions over the report drawn up by officers will be discussed in detail from 4pm.

The move threatens to delay the process to settle on a second site for Travellers' in Swansea, which has gone on for years.

Some Post readers have voiced their concerns over the proposal. TruthisFab added: "I do hope we are not about to see a cynical political ploy and game of deception, that is kicking this issue into the long grass for it to be implemented through the back door at a later date?

"Beware the same Labour tactic happened when it came to Cardiff based ordering for the closure of Morriston's Hospital neurosurgery unit."