North Dorset penalised for tolerance of Travellers, councillors claim - Dorset

From the Blackmore Vale Magazine

Furious North Dorset councillors have spoken out against proposals for new Traveller sites in the district, claiming the authority is being penalised for being more than others of the travelling community.

They say the assessment has taken too long to conduct and have criticised it for suggesting that 25 per cent of sites to serve the county for the next 15 years should go in North Dorset.

Members of the planning policy panel have commented to Cabinet that the whole issue should be called in for scrutiny, and that the basis on which the assessment was being made should be challenged.

Portfolio holder and panel chairman David Walsh reported that when a draft report was considered at a meeting of a Joint Member Steering Group (the Dorset and South Wiltshire Joint Planning and Transportation Committee) in September last year, he had complained bitterly that North Dorset was being asked to find 38 Traveller sites, when Bournemouth and Weymouth & Portland were being asked to find none.

He said that when they and other authorities were asked to share more of the burden, there were no volunteers.

"In a sense, North Dorset is suffering because it is more tolerant of sites than other authorities," he said.

He was also angry that sites no longer available were continuing to be assessed, and pleaded on behalf of a resident who was trying, but struggling, to sell her property close to one of them.

Planning policy officer Ian Smith explained that consultants carrying out the assessment were working to guidelines issued by government, and that because North Dorset already had a number of public and private Traveller sites, it was considered that demand would increase more in this district.

But members challenged the figures which suggested that Bournemouth and Weymouth would need none, since the census revealed that the highest number of Travellers were in Bournemouth.

Councillor Sherry Jesperson, whose ward includes a number of Traveller sites, said it was outrageous that the issue was taking so long to resolve, and that further consultation was being delayed to avoid election times in 2015.

An original consultation exercise started in November 2011, identifying around 200 additional sites of which 26 were selected for further consideration. A further consultation is expected in August or September this year, but adoption of any development plan document is not due until November 2016.

"We don't want to proceed on this basis because the procedure and outcome is likely to be unsatisfactory and not in the best interest of our residents, whether they are Travellers or home-owners," she said.

"We should recommend to Cabinet that as a matter of urgency this is referred to overview and scrutiny for call in, and that reference is made to the council's lawyers to advise us on what can be done. This piece of work has gone pear-shaped, and it is irresponsible to let this happen to our residents."