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Summit held with travellers is hailed a breakthrough

… progress in bid to cool tensions

A SUMMIT to try to improve relations between travellers and residents in the north-east was hailed as a success yesterday.

About 70 people, including more than a dozen travelling people, attended the talks at Inverurie Town Hall in an attempt to cool tensions between the communities.

Grampian Racial Equality Council and local authorities will prepare reports with a series of recommendations – including a target of establishing designated traveller sites in the region within a year.

The summit was attended by representatives from five community councils, Grampian Police, Grampian Racial Equality Council, the health board and local authorities in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray.

After the event, Donald Urquhart, the city council’s head of housing and community safety, said: “There were a lot of commitments from agencies. There was an open discussion, very frank.”

“It was a good opportunity for people to air their views, but also their aspirations,” he added. “ I think one of the really positive things to come out of this is that people accepted they didn’t understand what all the issues were, either from the traveller’s side or the settled side.”

“The big issue remains offering sites, both temporary and permanent, but also to have proportionate responses when issues raise their heads. The police were very keen to have proportionate responses. Another thing to come out of it very strongly was the travellers wanting to be involved to a degree.”

A total of 11 key issues were identified at the summit, including problems associated with short-term sites and unauthorised sites, as well as improving education, health and economic opportunities for the travelling community.

The findings are expected to be published in June.

Abiline McShane, a traveller who attended the event with her family, called for a greater understanding of the issues.

“We’re not treated as second-class citizens, I think we’re lower than that. If you go down to Glasgow, the travellers and the fixed community get on well, it’s just in the north east.

“There are councillors and people from different organisations who don’t have a clue about gypsy travellers, and it’s nice to be able to tell them we’re not dirty, thieving whatever.

“Hopefully they will change their views of gypsy travellers and hopefully they will give us more sites.”

Grampian Racial Equality Council director Jeannie Felsinger welcomed a willingness from some travelling people to become more involved in trying to find solutions.

“It has been very positive, very constructive,” she said.

For several years, local authorities in the north east have been discussing plans to create more authorised sites for travellers, to reduce the number of illegal encampments.

Councillor Aileen Malone, convenor of the city council’s housing and environment committee, said: “We do recognise there is a need for temporary halting sites and we are working on it.

“I also think the settled community need to co-operate more with the travelling community and I think the travelling community need to co-operate more with the settled community.”

David Cooper, a specialist environmental health officer at Aberdeenshire Council, said the event was a significant step forward.

“It was the first meeting where we’ve had such a big gathering of travellers,” he said.

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