New site for Gypsy Travellers ‘is not viable’

Progress is being made on how Perth and Kinross Council deals with Gypsy Traveller sites.

At a meeting of the council’s housing and communities committee earlier this week, councillors were provided with an update on the local authority’s updated strategy for working with the Gypsy Traveller community.

The new strategy was approved in 2014 to develop a“more coordinated approach”to providing services and accommodation to the community, and look at how to engage with the community more. It also looked to make sure PKC was fulfilling its legal requirements set by the Scottish Government.

According to the report, the way the council manages temporary campsites has been updated, and any temporary sites are managed by a number of different agencies.

And, since 2016 £150,000 has been spent on updating two of the region’s main Gypsy Traveller sites - Crook Moss in Kinross-shire and Double Dykes in Inveralmond.

At Crook Moss, £15,600 was spent on electrical works in 2016-2017 and a further £16,300 on electricity the following year.

£47,600 was spent on installing a metal staircase at Double Dykes, as well as £4900 on a bathroom and £7400 on fire detection.

The paper presented at the meeting added:“Further works at Double Dykes and Bobbin Mill [Pitlochry] have been identified for 2018-2019 from the remaining funding.”

Further funding has been granted to help support the community from this new strategy, including £22,000 for three years from the council’s minority ethnic carers of people project, £24,000 for three years from the ethnic minorities law centre, and £46,000 from PKAVS minority communities hub.

The meeting also noted continuous engagement with the Gypsy Traveller community through the Show Racism the Red Card training, a Gypsy Traveller get-together in the North Inch Community Campus, lottery funding to establish a Holocaust memorial exhibition at AK Bell Library, and family events at the Loch Leven Community Campus.

However, one action that was initially set out in the strategy has not been carried forward. Councillors had wanted to identify a new campsite for the Gypsy Traveller community, but after consultation decided it was not a viable option. The funding set aside for this has instead been invested into the current sites in the region.

Cllr Peter Barrett, convener of housing and communities, said:“The Gypsy Traveller strategy 2013-2018 has met its intended aims and the majority of actions have either been achieved or are continuing to progress.

“A consultation is planned which will allow us to explore future areas of work in greater detail with a view to including these aims in a revised strategy. I anticipate the updated strategy to be reported to the housing and communities committee in August 2018.”

In a separate paper presented at the meeting, customer satisfaction with how PKC deals with Gypsy Traveller sat at 47.1 per cent in 2016-2017.