Shambles!
Duncan Hames joins protesters against the council’s handling of traveller consultation.
Duncan Hames, prospective Lib Dem MP for Chippenham, has slammed the secretive approach of Tory-run North Wiltshire District Council to deciding on future travellers sites.
The Conservative Executive of the district council were poised to approve a new traveller site earlier this summer without even telling local residents.
At the last minute, an angry crowd forced them to start a public consultation.
The council still insisted on keeping several of the sites they had considered a secret, and only went public with a handful of most unsuitable council-owned plots.
Duncan Hames, along with local councillors Sylvia Doubell, John Scragg and hundreds of local people, marched through the streets in protest to the way the council had handled the consultation.
One banner during the march read ‘NWDC need to listen’ and another declared ‘Its time you supported us!’ After a shambolic consultation process, the council finally announced that all the sites had been rejected.
They have now put-off solving this issue for the new Wiltshire Council to decide.
Duncan Hames said “All the council have achieved is to waste lots of staff time and council taxes, causing many local residents lost sleep and worry.”