A MOVE to set up a stopping place for gypsies and travellers in Shaftesbury has been rejected by North Dorset District Council.

Cabinet members say the site on Salisbury Road, which is currently leased by Dorset County Council as a depot, is "unsuitable".

The Anti-social Behaviour Act, passed last year, increased police powers to deal with unauthorised gypsy and traveller camps, but police can only act if local authorities have identified alternative stopping places.

Now, Dorset County Council is trying to set up areas where illegally parked travellers can be directed.

It is currently asking local communities, councils and representatives of gypsies and travellers for their views on a shortlist of nine possible sites across the county, including the one at Shaftesbury.

But the district council, which owns the land, says it has already earmarked the site for employment use when the county council's lease comes to an end.

Council spokesman Kerry Pitt-Kerby said: "It's not our intention to allow this area to be used as a gypsy stopping place because of the zoning indicated in the local plan."

A small area near the proposed site has already been designated as a permanent site for gypsies, and is currently occupied by a leaseholder and members of his family.

Other locations identified as potential stopping places in north Dorset include the old waste site at Stourpaine near Blandford and Conygar Coppice, Okeford Fitzpaine.

Mr Pitt-Kerby added: "Many of the sites proposed have already been used at some point as unauthorised stopping places and that is why they have been put forward."

But suggestions that they camp on former waste sites have not gone done well with gypsies and travellers.

First published: May 24