COUNCILLORS are refusing to back plans for halting sites for travellers because they fear being ousted by angry voters.
Local authority leader Jim Gifford revealed elected members expected to be punished at the polls if they supported proposals for official encampments in Aberdeenshire.
When applications for halting sites in rural areas were made public, he said, it was like a “nuclear cloud” exploding over the communities involved.
In an exclusive interview with the Press and Journal, Mr Gifford and council deputy leader Martin Kitts-Hayes said that finding appropriate places for travellers to stop was a “constant battle” for the authority.
They were speaking against the backdrop of recent illegal encampments at the defunct Archeolink prehistory park near Oyne and at Aikey Brae near Old Deer.
Mr Gifford, who heads Aberdeenshire Council’s Conservative-led administration, said: “This is an issue we have been working hard to resolve, but it is not easy.
“It is estimated that we need around 40 halting sites across Aberdeenshire, but that isn’t possible.
“At the end of the day, proposals for travellers sites will always be contentious and will draw criticism – it happens all the time.
“Elected members can be put off voting in favour of these plans because they know they won’t get re-elected if they do.
“You just have to look at every time a set of plans for a halting site goes live. It is like a nuclear cloud going off over the village.
“The public realise that we need to give travellers an authorised site, but they don’t want it near them.”
Proposals for an official halting site at Aikey Brae prompted an angry response from local residents, who were concerned about mess and crime.
Central Buchan councillor Jim Ingram said: “We are there to represent the locals and are locals ourselves, so it is a difficult situation to be in.
“But with regards to Aikey Brae, I will only make my mind up about the proposals once we get the full plans because just now we are only seeing them in principle.
“But rest assured, I will not be sitting on the fence about it, let me tell you.”
Police have also warned that they are powerless to move on travellers if there are no halting sites for them to move on to.
The divisional commander for Aberdeenshire and Moray, Chief Superintendent Mark McLaren, said: “We would welcome an official halting site as at the moment we are unable to just move illegal encampments on.
“However, even if one was built, we couldn’t move on every encampment as there has to be somewhere official for them to go if the halting site is full.”
Mr Gifford said the travelling community needed to work together to allow better use of existing halting sites until new ones could be built.
He said: “There are family feuds amongst travelling families which have been going on for decades.
“In some cases they don’t even remember what it is they are arguing about.
“But one family wouldn’t move on to a site if another group they are feuding with was already there, and that doesn’t help matters.
“We need travellers to work with each other as well as us to find a solution.”
Mr Kitts-Hayes added: “What we find is that the people who moan about halting sites are the same ones giving travellers work.
“If people didn’t accept odd jobs from them, then they wouldn’t come here – it’s as simple as that.”
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