Wiltshire Council traveller pitches plan to go to consultation

It details how the council will meet the needs of the community and describes delivering “well-designed sites in keeping with their surroundings”, as well as “culturally appropriate accommodation for gypsies and travellers.”

The proposal to send the document out for public consultation was unanimously approved at the full council meeting on Wednesday, July 24.

The topic was described as “sensitive” by multiple councillors and numerous members of the public attended the meeting to witness the debate.

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Cllr Botterill said he understood the upset in certain communities (Image: Wiltshire Council)

Five of these residents spoke during the meeting to voice their concerns regarding the location of some of the proposed sites.

Cabinet member for planning Nick Botterill noted that the sites were “based on the best information available by the officers” and that the consultation would be an opportunity for local people to express their views.

He acknowledged that there was “significant and profound opposition” to certain of the sites.

He said: “I fully appreciate that, I get it, I understand the upset that this process has generated in certain communities.”

Cllr Botterill concluded: “The ultimate aim is to bring some harmony to what has been highly divisive and contested in the past.”

Cllr Ruth Hopkinson described the plan as “way overdue” and added that there was “an awful lot” of “misinformation and prejudice against the gypsy and traveller communities.”

She said: “The leader says it’s time to take back control, I would actually say – who lost control in the first place?

“And that would be Wiltshire Council.”

The leader of the council, Richard Clewer, reminded councillors that it was “critical” that, during the public consultation, residents express any objections based on “planning evidence.”

He said: “It’s about making sure that any actual planning reasons come forward, because that’s what this will be determined on when it goes, eventually, to an inspector.”

Cllr Clewer has asked that a guide be published along with the plan when it goes out for the consultation, which should last at least six weeks.

Local authorities such as Wiltshire Council have responsibilities to fulfil regarding traveller communities, such as identifying land in the “right locations to meet need through sustainable development”, addressing “unauthorised encampments”, and reducing “tensions between traveller and settled communities”.

An in-person engagement event will be held at Five Rivers Health and Wellbeing Centre on September 4 at 4.30pm.