Travellers site needed

Published on 4th September 2008 in News

The travellers at the Junction 36, Capitol Park, location.

A Goole Town Councillor has called for provisions to be made for travellers in the area after they settled on a number of private sites in and around the town last week.

Around 14 caravans first descended onto the Junction 36 site off the M62 last Thursday before moving on to the water treatment plant, off Airmyn Road on Monday.

Police were called to the Airmyn Road site to move the travellers on after it was reported they were blocking vehicle access to the plant.

At the time of going to press the travellers were situated on Seavy Road.

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council had at one time looked into providing four-week stopping sites in the region, one of which could have been in the Goole area, so that those on illegal sites could be moved on more quickly, but Goole Town Councillors have previously expressed their concerns at these proposals.

Now the travellers have pitched up in the town once more the local council is faced with what Councillor Malcolm Boatman described as "a situation of our own making".

Cllr Boatman said at Monday night's town council meeting: "If we had these permanent camps in the area the East Riding of Yorkshire Council would then have the powers to move the travellers on but we do not have designated sites. As a result the council have to go through the longer eviction process and we could be looking at four to six weeks if this is to run its course."

The permanent sites would prevent the travellers from settling on private property, which in the past has caused problems in the area after they have moved on and left waste at the site.

A spokesperson for the East Riding of Yorkshire Council has said of the need for a permanent site: "The council is aware of its duty to assess the needs of travellers within this region. An assessment is nearing completion and the results will be reported to the council's Cabinet in October. This will inform the number of any additional pitches needed in the East Riding, which will then be taken forward as part of the Local Development Framework. We will work with all communities to come up with the best location and size of any such additional sites through the planning process."

Cllr Boatman also urged local residents not to take advantage of the services offered by the travellers, which include home improvements, as they will have no come back if the work goes wrong.

"These people try and work from the area, they go knocking on doors particularly those of OAP's looking for work but there are no guarantees if anything goes wrong.

"If the travellers can get a living out of Goole they will stay here, if people do not use their services then they will move on a lot quicker," added Cllr Boatman.

With them the travellers brought a number of "well-fed" dogs and a pony, however these are not causing any problems and Cllr Boatman acknowledged that other than being there and running a generator they are not making a nuisance of themselves.

However, a spokesperson for Humberside Police has said that they are keeping an eye on the travellers situation: "Police were made aware of a number of people occupying land on Seavy Road, Goole. Humberside Police community cohesion officer is visiting the travelling community and is in constant contact with them. We will keep a watchful eye on the area but at this stage nothing has come to our attention."