Improving Gypsy/Traveller sites: progress summary

Review of progress

This report is based on the returns from 16 local authorities and one RSL providing a total of 26 sites for Gypsy/Travellers. These are:

• Aberdeen City Council – 1 site
• Aberdeenshire Council – 1 site (seasonal)
• Angus Council – 1 site
• Argyll Community Housing Association ( ACHA) – 2 sites
• City of Edinburgh Council – 1 site
• Clackmannanshire Council – 1 site
• Dumfries and Galloway Council – 2 sites
• Dundee City Council – 1 site
• East Lothian Council – 1 site
  (Managed by East Lothian Council on behalf of East and Mid Lothian Councils)
• Falkirk Council – 1 site
• Fife Council – 3 sites
• Highland Council – 4 sites
• North Ayrshire Council – 1 site
• Perth and Kinross Council – 2 sites
• South Lanarkshire Council – 2 sites
• Stirling Council – 1 site
• West Dunbartonshire Council – 1 site

In addition, two further sites are not included in the review. The permanent site at Houdston in South Ayrshire is out of use having suffered significant flood damage in December 2015. The local authority has provided a temporary site and is currently looking at options for an alternative permanent site. In the Scottish Borders there is a site for Gypsy/Travellers in Innerleithen. The site is managed by an independent private business, who leases the site from Scottish Borders Council. They do not manage the site on behalf of the Council but run the site as a commercial enterprise. The majority of the site is used as a commercial caravan park but a specified part of the site (10 pitches) and related amenities are for the exclusive use of Gypsy/ Travellers. The site is open from April to September each year. The current lease between the Council and the private provider was due to end in March 2018. Council officers have been working on the development of a new lease and related management agreement that will meet the needs of all parties and specifically establish arrangements to ensure the minimum standards and core rights and responsibilities are met.

Between August 2017 and March 2018, the Scottish Government carried out a review of progress towards meeting the standards. The first phase of this work involved requesting site providers to complete a self-assessment of their progress. This was followed up by a programme of visits to eight sites: Balmuirwood in Dundee; Clinterty in Aberdeen; Collin in Dumfries and Galloway; Tarvitmill, Cupar in Fife; North Cairntow in Edinburgh; Longman, Inverness in Highland; Redding in Falkirk; and Swinhill, Larkhall in South Lanarkshire, to talk to residents about their experiences of conditions on their sites while issuing questionnaires to residents living on the remaining sites. We spoke to a number of residents during these visits and received a further 31 questionnaire returns from five other sites – Dennystoun Forge in West Dunbartonshire, East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, Glenluce in Dumfries and Galloway, Redburn in North Ayrshire and St Christophers in Angus.

Information from the remaining 13 sites is based solely on the self-assessment provided by the site provider. These are: Aberdeenshire; Bobbin Mill and Double Dykes in Perth and Kinross; Clackmannanshire; Duncholgan and Ledaig in Argyll and Bute; East Lothian; Kirkcaldy and Kelty in Fife; Kintallen, Newtonmore and Spean Bridge in Highland; and Stirling.

This report sets out a summary of the information gathered during this review.