A TEMPORARY transit camp for travellers is being opened in North Dorset in 10 days time as pressure builds to find a more lasting solution to repeated incursions on public land.

With the opening of the camp at Tarrant Hinton on August 21 – a week before the start of the Great Dorset Steam Fair – police will have the power to move illegally camped travellers to the official site or escort them out of the county. The camp can take up to 100 caravans.

Last year the number of unauthorised encampments set up by gypsies and travellers in Dorset fell because of a temporary transit camp set up between the beginning of the Olympic torch relay and the end of the Paralympics in September.

The problem has now returned to pre-2012 levels and county councillors and Dorset Police are asking for a new temporary transit site to be established as soon as possible.

A report on how to manage unauthorised encampments is due to go to the county council’s environment overview committee on October 1.

Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill wants a single temporary transit site to serve the whole county.

“The law refers to each local authority opening its own temporary transit site, something that appears unworkable in Dorset. I shall be lobbying government to change the law to county boundaries,” he said.

Dorset’s nine local authorities are working towards finding gypsy and traveller sites by the end of 2016-17. They would then need to find funding and gain planning permission.

Hilary Cox, Dorset County Council’s cabinet member for the environment, said: “We have experienced difficulties in finding suitable sites across the county. Fifty-three per cent of Dorset is designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and the locations that have been identified have met with opposition from local residents.”

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