Please listen, is councillor's plea

Published 12 Oct 2011 08:00 3 Comments

A LOCAL councillor has called on the SNP administration running Fife Council to put on hold their plans for a travelling people's site to be established in Cardenden and listen to the community.

Labour councillor for Lochgelly and Cardenden, Mark Hood (pictured left), has described the SNP councillors' decision to ignore the legitimate concerns of the local community as 'wrong' and says this is not the right way to go about setting up a site for travelling people west of Jamphlars Road.

The councillor commented, "I spoke out at the Fife Council meeting and raised my concerns with the chairman of the committee about the poor level of consultation there has been with the local community, but he made clear he would continue to ignore me and the wider community choosing instead to push ahead with their plans.

"This is a sensitive issue and one which requires very careful handling. The SNP councillors dealing with this issue seem to be unable to understand the very real concerns of local people, preferring instead to dismiss anyone objecting to their plan as being prejudice .

"This is simply not the case, the local people have real concerns about the location of the site with regards to issues like road safety affecting both the travelling community and the local community".

Mr Hood contended that under questioning at Thursday's meeting of the full council the chair of housing and communities committee, Councillor Brian Goodall, refused to agree to put the plans for the site on hold.

Mr Hood commented after the meeting of Council, "The local people in Cardenden have been extremely patient with this SNP administration.

"This is third time I have raised their concerns with the chair of the committee and the third time they have refused to stop and listen to the community. Not until they put their plans on hold will the community feel that they are being properly listened too".

In conclusion Mr Hood said, "Fifers did not vote in councillors so they can behave like mini dictators ignoring the views of their communities for five years, they voted for people to represent them and support their community.

"This is a fact which seems to be lost on the SNP administration currently running Fife Council. It is now time they put their plans on hold and pay the local community the courtesy of listening to their concerns".

There have been a number of concerns expressed by members of the Cardenden community to use of the Pitcairn site as a site for travelling people.

As the entrance to it would be on the busy Lochgelly-Cardenden Road there have been worries on road safety issues, while others have expressed concern about the site being only a few hundred yards from houses in Jamphlars Road.

Councillor Brian Goodall (pictured right), chair of the Housing and Communities committee explained, "The creation of these stopover sites is extremely important and throughout this process we've listened to the local community in Cardenden and taken on board concerns they've raised.

"We also want to manage our relationship with the Gypsy Travellers and have a solution to unauthorised encampments which does not cause upset and disruption to our local communities.

"Creating up to eight stopover sites in Fife will help us and the police to move Gypsy Travellers from non-managed, unauthorised encampments to properly managed sites.

"In relation to the proposed site at Pitcairn, the Housing and Neighbourhood Service is working to prepare a detailed site plan which will address the concerns raised by the Cardenden Community Council, principally site drainage and access to the site from a busy road."

He added, "There will be a further opportunity, agreed with my colleague Councillor Ian Chisholm, to have a meeting in Cardenden to discuss these concerns in light of revised plans for the site. All further consultation meetings will be co-ordinated by the Gypsy Traveller's Working Group. The council has also agreed to set up a Local Liaison Group involving the local community to oversee the management of the stopover site.

"This will involve Local Members, Community Council representatives, Fife Constabulary, and the local Gypsy Traveller Site Manager.

"The purpose of the Group would be to ensure that all relevant information concerning the operational management of the site and local concerns be addressed. The Group would report to the Gypsy Traveller Working Group on a regular basis. The next step for the proposed site in Cardenden is to seek a temporary planning consent to move the proposal forward and there will be a further opportunity for local people to raise concerns through the planning process."

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• 

  ryeoman
  1 post
  Jan 3, 12:27
  Report comment

  "The council has also agreed to set up a Local Liaison Group.This will involve Local Members, Community Council representatives, Fife Constabulary, and the local Gypsy Traveller Site Manager".
  
  If anybody thinks that these brave induviduals can manage a travellers site, its time they travelled back to planet earth. Any body who complains about bad behavior like they inflicted the village too last year will be branded "Racist". If it was humanly possible to differentiate between Gypsies and traveller rubbish there might be a case to have Gypsy sites but we have to live with reality.
  
  Recommend?   Yes 1     No 0

• 

  Saor Alba
  Unregistered User
  Feb 27, 07:16
  Report comment

  Maybe Mr Hood can build the site in his back garden and charge the council for it.......
  
  Recommend?   Yes 0     No 1

• 

  stewarty
  Unregistered User
  Mar 31, 13:46
  Report comment

  one site has been ruled out but the other ones being considered are all less than 2.5 miles away. Its very near to the fife council elections and we have ian chisolm SNP writing to every house to say he was against where it had originally been proposed but hes not said he is against the other three sites they are looking at. SNP are in so he will be doing what hes told. Mark Hood is saying no to cardenden but no to lochgelly .. he doesnt know what to do, as he doesnt want to annoy either cardenden or lochgelly cos he wants voted in. The two women one leaving and one hoping to be voted in are saying nothing. Lets not kid ourselfs it will be where the planning department want it. Makes you wonder why we have and pay these people fifteen grand a year and more to look after our interests
  
  Recommend?   Yes 1     No 0

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