Relations between the council and travellers on two official sites in Milton Keynes has become so bad that residents have been refusing to pay fees.
A meeting yesterday (Wednesday) heard that there has been such under-investment at 22 pitches in Newport Pagnell and Stony Stratford that residents have been living in poor conditions compared to council tenants.
Cllr Lauren Townsend (Lab, Bletchley West), the council’s cabinet member for community safety, told the budget and resources overview and scrutiny committee that steps have already been taken to improve conditions.
She said: “When you compare the condition of the sites to the condition of some of our housing tenants there is a disparity, unfortunately.
“It would be remiss of us not to address that and not to tackle it and not to improve things because it is borderline discrimination at the end of the day.”
She added: “They are a vulnerable and a minority community and we need to put some investment in there.
“The hope is that with that investment, and the new officer to manage the sites and enforce payments of those fees, that we will see an improved relationship between licensees on the sites and the police, and residents who live nearby.”
The council has included £43,000 in its budget for 2021-22 to “reduce vermin and criminal activity such as fly tipping” at the sites in Calverton Lane and Willen Road.
There’s also a £7,000 plan to have a “management plan” for the site.
Council leaders are also planning to employ a neighbourhood officer at a cost of £47,000 to provide a service to the residents, to reduce breaches of licenses and improve the collection of fees.
Residents at pitches in official terms pay a “licence fee” rather than rents that tenants pay.
Budget papers also revealed that there has been no budget for 10 amenity blocks at the sites, and the council wants to invest £24,000 on this.
The issue was raised after Cllr Allan Rankine (Cons, Bletchley Park) asked what the scale of the issue was.
Cllr Townsend said that it was not a case of 100 per cent of residents withholding payments.
“We are collecting some fees,” she said.
“It’s not a case that everybody on both sites is refusing to pay, it’s just people refusing to pay at the minute based on the condition of the sites and once we we approve them they hopefully start paying again.”
She added: “We have made some some slight improvements already and some have started paying again, and to cover backdated missed payments.”
Cllr Nigel Long (Lab, Bletchley West), a former manager of gipsy and traveller sites for a London borough, said he strongly supported investment and in staff.
He said: “The lesson we learned was that if you wanted a good relationship with the people people on those sites, what you had to do was have a really good relationship with them.”
