§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many proposals from each of the district and islands councils to provide sites for travelling people he has received to date; how many he has accepted from each district and islands council and how many he has rejected, and on what grounds he rejected them, from each district and islands council.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonTwenty-three official traveller sites have been provided to date and building work on a further three permanent sites is expected to be completed shortly. In addition 16 locations identified by local authorities are currently at various stages of consideration. Three sites have been refused planning permission following public local inquiries, in the district councils of Dundee, Stirling and Perth and Kinross. More detailed information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will consider legislation to compel local authorities to meet their pitch targets for official sites for travelling people in Scotland.
§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if it remains official policy that permanent sites should facilitate the movement of travelling families; and if he will make a statement.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe Government are continuing their long-established policy of encouraging the provision of a network of properly equipped sites for travelling people throughout Scotland. The policy is backed by the availability of 100 per cent. capital grant towards the development costs of the sites. A full network of official sites should help to make it easier for travelling families to move legally from area to area.
§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what formula was used to determine how many official sites should be provided for travelling people in Scotland, as recommended by his advisory committee, SDD circular No. 5/1989, appendix C.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe advisory committee held extensive consultations with individual local authorities to assess traveller site requirements throughout Scotland and its recommendations form the basis of the pitch targets set.
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§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what information he has on instances where travellers have been encouraged by local authorities to provide their own site, as recommended in the third report of his advisory committee on travelling people.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonNo information is held centrally on the extent to which local authorities have encouraged provision of travellers' sites by travellers.
§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the latest estimate for the number of travelling people in Scotland; who provides this estimate; how it is updated; and what information about travelling families will be sought within the 1991 census.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe latest estimate, based on information from local authorities, suggests that there are about 3,000 travellers in Scotland, in 750 families. Information on number is reviewed by the Secretary of State's advisory committee on Scotland's travelling people in the course of its regular contacts with local authorities. Travelling families will be expected to provide the same information as anyone else in the 1991 census. No special information about travelling people will be sought.
§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what is the latest target set, and by which date this target should be met, for(a) the total recommended number of official sites for travelling people in Scotland and (b) the recommended number of official sites for travelling people for each of the district and islands councils.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonThe pitch target set for each district council is listed in the table. No specific date has been set for the achievement of these targets, but local authorities are encouraged to meet them as soon as possible.
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Pitch targets Region and District Target Borders Berwickshire 15 Ettrick and Lauderdale 6 Roxburgh 10 Tweeddale 10 Central Clackmannan 20 Falkirk 28 Stirling 42 Dumfries and Galloway Annandale and Eskdale 12 Nithsdale 18 Stewartry 3 Wigtown 17 Fife Dunfermline 8 Kirkcaldy 18 North East Fife 20 Grampian City of Aberdeen 36 Banff and Buchan 20 Gordon 0 Kincardine and Deeside 0 Moray 10 Highland
Region and District Target Badenoch and Strathspey 6 Inverness 24 Lochaber 30 Nairn 20 Caithness 20 Ross and Cromarty 20 Skye and Lochalsh 20 Sutherland 20 Lothian City of Edinburgh 40 East Lothian 20 Midlothian 20 West Lothian 45 Strathclyde Argyll and Bute 38 Cunninghame 24 Kilmarnock and Loudoun 12 Kyle and Carrick 8 Cumnock and Doon Valley 6 Dumbarton 20 Clydebank 12 Bearsden and Milngavie 12 Strathkelvin 20 Cumbernauld and Kilsyth 20 Glasgow 55 Monklands 32 Motherwell 56 Hamilton 42 East Kilbride 6 Clydesdale 15 Eastwood 0 Renfrew 16 Inverclyde 0 Tayside Angus 37 City of Dundee 20 Perth and Kinross 85 Total—Scotland 982 There is no identified demand for travellers' sites in the areas of the islands councils.
§ Mr. MaxtonTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland which of the district and islands councils have met their recommended pitch target for their provision of official sites for travelling people in their area to the latest available date.
§ Lord James Douglas-HamiltonAt 31 March 1990 the local authorities which have met their recommended pitch target are listed in the table:
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- Ettrick and Lauderdale
- Tweeddale
- Falkirk
- Annandale and Eskdale
- Stewartry
- North East Fife
- Banff and Buchan
- Gordon
- Kincardine and Deeside
- Caithness
- Inverness
- Nairn
- Ross and Cromarty
- Skye and Lochalsh
- Sutherland
- Clydebank
- Cumnock and Doon Valley
- Cunninghame
- Dumbarton
- Eastwood
- Hamilton
- Inverclyde
- Kyle and Carrick
- Renfrew
There is no identified demand for travellers' sites in the areas of the islands councils.