Enfield Council is currently consulting on five sites for Travellers to live around the borough, reports Grace Howarth, Local Democracy Reporter

The A10 Wheeled Sports Facility in Edmonton

An opposition councillor claims one of the five sites Enfield Council has proposed for use by Travellers is “unsuitable” despite the Labour administration’s insistence it meets “requirements”.

Conservative James Hockney says use of land near the A10 in Edmonton as a ‘transit site’ for Travellers could impact users of the A10 Wheeled Sports Facility, also known as Edmonton Skatepark.

The council is currently consulting on its draft Traveller Local Plan (TLP) until Monday, 4th November, which sets out five new locations across Enfield for Travellers to live.

Concerns around the proposed A10 Travellers site were set to be raised at a full council meeting on 18th September, but the meeting ran out of time after a debate on libraries lasted nearly two hours.

Cllr Hockney said users of the skatepark, which is in his Bush Hill Park ward, “do make use of the car park as part of the skatepark” and that a user group had put forward proposals to install “new skatepark equipment” on the grassed area which is now being proposed as a Travellers site.

In response, a council spokesperson pushed back, highlighting the proposed space was “adjacent” to the skatepark area and insisted it would not “directly affect skating activities”.

But Cllr Hockney said putting this land forward went against the “friends agreement” the council had “signed into”, as well as the proposals put forward by the skatepark group.

However, the council spokesperson said of the five sites, which would accommodate 30 permanent Traveller pitches, “at least one transit site” was needed and added currently there were “no permanent or transit sites in the borough”.

The spokesperson said: “The site allocations that are being proposed are considered to provide adequate space for pitches, have good connections to road networks and will cause minimal disruption in the surrounding areas.

“In the absence of other options, the A10 site meets the requirements as a transit site to support the accommodation needs of the travelling community and to ensure suitability, the council will monitor any sites that are allocated.”

They added the council was “committed” to supporting and improving leisure provision in the borough.

Cllr Hockney also said he was concerned about the proposed transit site’s proximity to the A10, which it faces. He said: “The council needs to also justify why it thinks that a site that is in such close proximity to the A10 – a busy road with existing road safety issues, noise and pollution – is a suitable place to provide as a transit site.”

The TLP consultation, which opened on 23rd September, includes an online survey for residents to fill in, as well as four in-person workshops. But Cllr Hockney raised his concern that none of the events were to be held in Bush Hill Park ward, adding this could make residents “disenfranchised from the consultation”.

Detailing how the civic centre drew up the TLP, the council spokesperson added: “We have conducted several ‘call for sites’ to accommodate the needs of Travellers and no private owners have come forward to date.

“Neighbouring boroughs were also unable to help meet the needs for Enfield when asked. As a result, we embarked on a comprehensive internal review of council-owned locations, with sites tested on metrics including availability, suitability, and constraints.”

The council urged “as many people as possible” to take part in the consultation.

For more information on the consultation and to take part in the survey:
Visit Traveller Local Plan (Regulation 18) part 2

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