Dudley Council bosses branded spineless over delay in traveller's site

A planning application was approved in May to build a temporary site in Budden Road, Coseley, under the former Conservative leadership so the council could stop illegal camps.

But the Labour administration, which has since taken control, has halted those plans to carry out its own review. The Coseley community also launched a protest against the plans.

Dudley Council’s cabinet, including leader Qadar Zada, was meeting with Coseley residents last night to discuss the proposals. The review has been going for three months with the Labour group not ruling out any options – including stopping the plans altogether or changing location.

But former council leader Patrick Harley, who is the head of Dudley’s Conservative group, has hit out at the council’s ‘stalling’, adding: “It shows the controlling Labour group have no political backbone and they are spineless.

“It will be a waste of time if Labour choose a new location, they will have to go through the whole planning process that we went through.

“When travellers start pitching up on fields and residents can’t access them, they will know who to point the finger at. If neighbouring councils build their own transit site, and we don’t have one, we might as well put a ‘welcome to Dudley sign’ up.”

The proposed traveller’s site would give the council and police tougher power to evict travellers from illegal camps. Travellers would also be able to camp at the site.

The council spends £150,000-a-year on clean-up and legal costs on illegal camps.

About 1,000 people in Coseley singed a petition against having a site in their neighbourhood and held a protest.

Councillor Zada said the review was taken because Labour did not believe ‘all the correct sites had been looked at’.