| This follows figures released by the Scottish Executive where Dundee was found to have more travelling people staying in unauthorised camps than anywhere else in Scotland.
A record is taken twice a year to discover the use such individuals make of local authority or privately-owned campsites and how often they stay in places where they should not.
Interestingly, a total of 24 unauthorised camps were counted across the country in January, with four of them in Dundee. No other local authority had more than two.
On the Dundee sites, 31 households were found — more than a quarter of the national total of 114 families — with most of them staying for no more than a couple of weeks.
Although the sites are not identified, the Government report said that in urban areas they tend to be on waste ground on the fringes of industrial estates rather than in residential areas.
Moreover, it stated that unauthorised camping may be the only option for some gypsies and travellers.
Tayside Police’s Central Division Commander, Chief Superintendent Ian Alexander said, “We have a very clear protocol in place with Dundee City Council in respect of gypsies/travellers and illegal encampments.
“It is a policy that has been drawn up following consultation with representatives from the gypsy/traveller community, with whom we have a positive relationship.
“Where we receive a complaint of an illegal encampment, police officers will attend along with a gypsy/traveller liaison officer, to offer advice and information about alternative official sites — locally and nationally. If they express an intention to remain in an illegal encampment, a city council official, with Tayside Police officers attending, serves notice to quit the land within 24 hours.”
An estimated 1600 people across Scotland make up traveller households, of which there are 525, according to the Executive report.
It also stated that council sites had few “casual vacancies” due to increasing levels of long-term tenancy and that the few private sites generally small in size meant limited alternatives.
In the same vein, rent arrears and other tenancy problems are not permitted on council sites.
Dundee has no privately-owned sites at present.
The city council was unable to provide a comment at the time of going to press. |
