Community council members and residents have slammed plans for two new caravan pitches for Travellers – close to an existing site.
James McPhee has submitted a planning application for the pitches to the west of School Road in Tealing.
It is not far from the Dundee City Council-run Balmuir Wood site, which sits within the Angus Council area and has 20 pitches.
The local authority has been inundated with written objections to Mr McPhee’s plans, with members of Tealing Community Council claiming the Travelling community is already catered for in the area.
But Mr McPhee said in planning documents that the pitches were for use by him and his family, because they’ve faced discrimination at other locations.
A total of 16 objections have been sent to the council.
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Alan Slade, deputy chairman of Tealing Community Council, wrote: “There is no need for another Travellers’ site, private or otherwise, in the Tealing area because there is a long-established and well-managed existing site with plenty of capacity for this whole family and others under two miles from the proposed site that meets all the Scottish Government’s core requirements.
“The personal circumstances of an applicant, or their relatives, is not a material consideration in the determination of planning applications under those controls and approving this application risks setting a precedent that threatens the open countryside aspect of small Angus rural villages like Tealing. In addition, the settled community in Tealing and the Travelling people who have used the Balmuir Wood site have co-existed for more than 20 years and we have seen very little evidence of discrimination.”
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