| Councillor Bob Duncan, who represents the Lochee ward, says he is fed up with the lack of action from SET who, he says, “appear to be waiting for the council and the police to do something about this situation”.
Mr Duncan said, “I phoned SET this morning and they said they were waiting for the police.
“I then spoke to our travelling people liaison officer and the picture I got was we are waiting for them and the police.
“They are all waiting for each other to do something and in the meantime these people are creating a mess which has to be paid for by the taxpayers.
“I’m fed up with this. We’ll be left waiting for action for 10 days like the last time, the place will be like a rubbish dump and we have to foot the bill, just because SET won’t take the responsibility.
“We’re trying to attract visitors to Dundee and they are driving up the Kingsway and they are being met with this. I am absolutely incensed. It is totally unacceptable they (travellers) are just able to use these sites the way they are doing.”
The travellers descended on Tuesday, this time in a field next to the Oranges and Lemons private nursery on Explorer Road.
By yesterday afternoon there were eight caravans cars and pickups on the site, which is owned by Scottish Enterprise. At 8.30am today however, most of the cars and vans were gone, although the caravans remained.
Councillor Duncan added, “I spoke at length to our liaison officer and the position is although we have no responsibility for this site, as a duty to the people of Dundee we are doing our best to help speed things up.
“But it is Scottish Enterprise in Glasgow who are dragging their heels. It’s time they got their finger out and did something about this.
“I’m told the last time travellers were here it cost £5000 and took three weeks to clear up the mess left behind.
“SET should have the infrastructure in place to deal with it more rapidly.”
A Scottish Enterprise Tayside spokeswoman said, “We are certainly aware of the situation but we have to follow the appropriate legal action.
“We are in consultation with our legal teams, the police and council. I don’t know what else the councillor expects us to do.
“The council, police and sheriff officers will issue a notice for trespassing and if the travellers do not move off after that further action will be taken.”
At the site there is a line of double bollards along the roadside edge of the field to prevent access, but the travellers have entered by driving into the entrance road to the nursery, then over a grassed area.
Police said they were monitoring the situation and would act to remove the travellers as soon as talks with the site owners are concluded.
A Scottish Enterprise spokesperson said, “We are in talks with our legal advisers, Dundee City Council and Tayside Police to resolve the situation as quickly as possible.”
The owners of the nursery said they were not in a position to comment.
However, several parents with toddlers at the nursery expressed fears for their children’s health, given the mess left by travelling people who camped in the area a couple of months ago.
One mother said, “One of the first things they did on arrival was place a ladder against the fence at the rear of the nursery. What that’s all about I don’t know, but I just fear for our children’s health.”
The last visit by the travellers to the area cost thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ cash for cleaning up the mess. In May around 30 caravans camped between Myrekirk Road and Explorer Road. |
