RULING Tories at East Hampshire District Council have been accused of "surrendering to the electoral time-table" over their handling of the controversial short-stay traveller site issue. The Conservatives were criticised after sensationally putting plans to create short- stay traveller sites on ice just over a month ago. Now EHDC has announced that its quest for a site has been put back until at least the summer of 2007 because of "new announcements at regional level." Liberal Democrat leader Tony Ludlow told The Herald: "To put the process on hold is to surrender to the electoral timetable instead of using the months ahead in constructive debate." He added: " There is no justification for deferring discussion on this important issue or for keeping things behind closed doors. It makes sense to leave a decision until all the information is available, including input from SEERA, but it is bound to take a long time to make such a sensitive decision and it would be sensible to start now. Public concern has already been raised, so let us make it clear that we will listen to the public, let us use the time to develop the criteria, with their input, and let us continue discussions with landowners, who will need time to think of their options. And this week another leading Liberal Democrat, Adam Carew, who has recently had to face the problem of travellers setting up camp in his Walldown ward at Bordon, said: "How very politically convenient for the Conservatives to delay any further discussion on traveller sites until after the district council elections in May next year. " He added: " The total failure of the current Conservative administration to get to grips with this difficult issue is a real cause for concern and shows a stunning lack of community leadership. Members of the public have a right to know which sites are being looked at, as are their elected representatives. Mr Carew claimed EHDC was required by government to provide a site and the council needed to make that decision immediately to help prevent any more illegal encampments in the district. The criticism came after EHDC's announcement this week that the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) would be looking at the provision of sites across the region, in September next year, as part of its work on developing the South East Plan. SEERA, said an EHDC statement, intended to publish its proposals for how many pitches should be in each district in December 2007 and then hold a 12-week public consultation. Before then councils would be asked to comment on the accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers. The council's portfolio holder for development, Patrick Burridge ,said: "We still want to identify a short-stay site for travellers because it will help police clear illegal sites on public land. "We have already said that we do not want to go it alone without other councils working with us, in case East Hampshire became a magnet for travellers, so I welcome the opportunity to take part in a regional initiative. "It is really important that we get this right and it make sense to slot into th SEERA process and timetable. It would be foolish to rush this process." He said Hampshire councils had already commissioned a study into travellers' housing needs which would be published on November 28 this year. This would then be discussed by the county and district councils' gipsy and traveller liaison group before it passed the results to SEERA in June next year. EHDC's business director Bill Price said: "A lot has happened since we agreed our criteria for a short-stay site in January this year. The situation is quite different to a year ago and we have recommended to councillors that we pause for a while. "When we discussed our proposals at two public meetings in East Hampshire, local residents were very clear about the need for us to work closely with other government bodies, and so we are happy to take account of what is going on in neighbouring areas and review progress in the summer. Until then, we will not be doing any more work on identifying potential sites." "The council's working group, which includes councillors from both political parties, officers from the district and county councils, and the police, had been looking at potential sites to compare against the agreed criteria." He said two weeks ago, the council published a list of those sites that had been rejected by the group. It posted the list on its website after a local newspaper [The Petersfield Herald] and a member of the public had asked for the full list of sites. l THE Herald still awaits the outcome of its appeal under the Freedom of Information Act for the names of the three sites still under consideration for a short-stay traveller site in East Hampshire. The newspaper was given, after applying under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004, the names of 21 sites across the district which had been ruled out because they did not meet the criteria set out by councillors. But the council withheld the names of three further sites which had been shortlisted. The Herald appealed for these names to EHDC's monitoring officer, Andrew Ferrier, and this week he said he was currently considering the request.
