A senior Aberdeen councillor has hit out at a threat to penalise local authorities for not properly maintaining gypsy traveller sites.
Labour’s Willie Young claimed the “carrot and stick” approach used by the Scottish Government would not work.
He claimed it was SNP ministers who did not understand the pressure unauthorised camps had on the city council – which operates an official site near Blackburn which is full to capacity.
Mr Young, local authority finance convener, said the council often had to deal with around 100 caravans a time and claimed it would be able to identify land for new halting sites if the government passed the by-law.
Reflecting on Mr Neil’s remarks, the Labour politician said: “This is typical of the SNP to blame local authorities for the government’s failure to pass legislation and instead provide hotchpotch guidance.
“This one-size-fits-all solution does not help so we want the government to give us the bylaw and we will give them extra sites.”
Aberdeenshire Council owns just one official site near Banff but Allan Hendry, chairman of the gypsy and traveller sub-committee, said a document outlining potential new locations was in the process of being drawn up.
“Gypsy travellers are human beings and are quite entitled to carry on their cultural way of life,” he added.
“But some of them let themselves down by what they do and that is why people don’t want them – that is the sad truth.”
A spokeswoman for Aberdeenshire Council said all councillors were provided with equalities training and staff were in post to ensure that “equality considerations run through everything we do”.