THE hunt for council-owned ground to create a halting site for travellers in Moray has drawn a blank – and the local authority may now have to turn to private landowners.
Officials have admitted they have “exhausted” all options for using council property for official stopover camps.
Plans for two halting sites were scrapped three years ago amid widespread local opposition.
But last night councillors were urged to act – and take their lead from Fife Council, which has created official camping and stopover areas.
Moray Council’s head of housing and property, Jill Stewart, revealed that no further work had been undertaken to find halting sites since proposals to create two – one at Arradoul, near Buckie, and the other at Kingsmeadow, near Forres – were dropped.
Responding to a question from Labour councillor Barry Jarvis at yesterday’s communities committee meeting, Mrs Stewart added: “My view would be that the council, through that work in 2010, exhausted examinations of land that is available to it.
“So, therefore, any approach to develop any proposals would, by necessity, require further landowners.”
Committee chairman Eric McGillivray said more than 100 sites had been considered by the council in the past.
But last night, travellers who are currently camped in a layby near Forres said something had to be done.
One woman at the camp said: “This isn’t an appropriate place for anyone to be living. But there’s nowhere for anybody to live.”
Another traveller added: “We have got a baby who is only six weeks old. We had to move three times before he was 10 days old.”
The group, who have been living around Forres since 2009, called for action.
One said: “It’s high time that the council were thinking about permanent sites, not just temporary halting sites.”
Graham Noble, a retired development officer for the Gypsy Traveller Education Project in Aberdeen, whose remit also included Moray, said: “In my experience, Fife Council is an excellent example. They have fully managed official campsites, plus they have several stopover sites, and that seems to be working.”
Traveller sites in Moray have been a contentious issue in recent years.
A recent case involving the Stewart family at Lhanbryde highlighted the lack of a policy on sites in the Moray Local Plan 2008.
The travellers have fought a long-running battle with the council since they set up a camp at Doohill without planning permission – but a Scottish Government reporter later granted permission for them to remain at the site for at least three years.
A policy on applications for traveller sites will be addressed in the new local plan – but it is unlikely to be in place until 2015.
Interim guidance has been drafted by planners to be used until 2015.
The document highlights that the legislative rights of travellers under the Human Rights Act could be used as a “material consideration” to justify a departure from usual planning policy.
The guidelines state that there “must be a need” for a traveller site and that the site should not detract from the character and appearance of the area.
Sites for traveller should be built at least half a mile from settlements.
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