TORIES have sensationally put plans to create short-stay traveller sites in East Hampshire on ice - less than 12 hours after a frosty meeting with residents. The surprise move, dismissed as "political cowardice" this week, was pushed through the morning after an East Hampshire District Council community forum in Grayshott - Tory leader Ferris Cowper's home turf. Now the thorny issue has been removed from the agenda of similar meetings in Petersfield and Alton and no more public talks are scheduled for this year. Senior Lib Dem campaigner Peter Rodgers told The Herald: "Perhaps it is more to do with the fact that there is an election next May and the leader has decided, after the response from the public in his own patch, that it would be political suicide to do anything more before the elections in May. "I find it a bit odd that after taking the debate to Grayshott through the North East Community Forum, they suddenly decide that they are in desperate need of urgent further consultation and pull it from the two remaining community forum agendas it has not been to. Their behaviour is a little bizarre. "There is the genuine concern that if we do rush ahead and go with the original timetable, we would be so far in advance of other authorities that we would be inundated with travellers seeking a place. "This is a further example of how this whole thing has been badly thought through. It should have been coordinated with other authorities in the whole of Hampshire." Senior Tory district councillor Patrick Burridge faced a barrage of questions from residents and councillors during Tuesday night's discussion on the setting up of a short-stay travellers' site, and admitted he did not have many of the answers. Liberal Democrat Adam Carew, who represents Whitehill Walldown, was unable to attend the meeting. But speaking from the Liberal Democrat party conference in Brighton, after hearing the news, he said: "The Tories must come clean as to where these sites are. "I have spoken to officers and have been stonewalled. Members of the public and their locally elected representatives have a right to be fully consulted now. "I suspect the leader is planning to defer this until after the elections next May, and if this was so, it would show a stunning lack of political leadership and would be political cowardice of the first order." Secret talks to discuss temporary sites in the district have been taking place for around a year and a short list of locations was due to have been unveiled in November. At that stage, the plan was that the cabinet would decide on a short list of potential sites. The final site would be announced in January, following further public meetings in December. Instead, the cabinet is now set to review its criteria and short list in the new year, to "allow more time for detailed research and public discussion". In a press release, council leader Ferris Cowper said the speed of the process risked resulting in travellers being enticed from other areas to stay in the district. He said : "It's very important that there is a co-ordinated strategy across the county. If East Hampshire is the first district to set up a site, we run the risk of attracting travellers from other districts. "We have to make sure that other local councils are working on a similar timetable before proceeding." Tom Horwood, the council's head of communications and policy, added: "One message that we have heard loud and clear is that many local residents think any proposed site of 12 pitches will not be large enough. "So we are going back to look at this again. There were also some questions raised at both meetings that we could not give full answers to, so we want to make sure that we have all the right experts available for future meetings. "There is no rush for this project. We want to make sure there is a full and open consultation at every stage of the decision- making process, to get the best decision at the end of it all. "To do this, we are taking on board what people have said to us so far, before continuing with the public meetings. We will come back to the community forums and then hold public meetings near every site that is eventually short-listed. The cabinet will listen to and consider every point that local people make." The deputy leader of the council, Sam James, told The Herald the Liberal Democrats' claims were "absolute rubbish" and that more consultation was needed before conclusions could be drawn. He was unable to say when the decision to put the scheme on the back burner had been taken, or when public debate on traveller sites would reopen. Ferris Cowper was unavailable for comment as The Herald went to press.
