Travellers blamed for litter shame - Ayreshire

From the Irvine Times

THE COUNCIL have been urged to take action to stop Travellers repeatedly setting up camp at the same spot in Irvine.

MP Brian Donohoe has urged for more to be done to block Travellers accessing ground at Meadowhead Avenue, which has been left strewn with rubbish, allegedly following the latest encampment.

The Central Ayrshire MP - who is well-known for his vehement campaigning on issues relating to the travelling community, submitted these pictures to the Times as he called on North Ayrshire Council to install a barricade at the site.

He commented: “The Travellers have moved on from Meadowhead Avenue, where they had been illegally camping for some time. However, they never take their waste with them and I was told the operation to clear the fly-tipping and dumped domestic waste could take more than a day.

“Those are wages paid and a stretched service having to deal with the mess left behind by these lawless types of Travellers who encroach on our beauty spots and areas of industry where they think they can get away with leaving their mess without disturbance.

“More must be done to remove these people as soon as possible after their arrival, they are pussy footed around far too much.

“On top of this, I have asked the council to have a look at taking steps to install some sort of barricade which will stop them being able to rock up to this particular area again as local businesses have complained to me that they use this area quite often and they feel the council does not do enough to tackle the problem.

“Apparently they frequent the area more in the summer months and it is not a good thing to have clients or potential clients seeing such mess when visiting a business premises so perhaps North Ayrshire Council will see fit to install some form of deterrent to stop them from being able to park their caravans there in the future.”