THE boss of a popular fair said a new transit camp for travellers is not a long-term solution to the ongoing influx onto public land.

Martin Oliver, the managing director of the Great Dorset Steam Fair, will open the site in Tarrant Hinton on August 21 – a week before the launch of the event.

This will give police the power to move illegally camped travellers to the official site, which will house up to 100 caravans, or escort them out of the county.

But the plans have already been met with criticism from councillors, who feel it should be open from an earlier date.

Corfe Mullen Parish Council made the decision to close vehicular access to the recreation ground on Friday over fears that it could be used by travellers, and may keep the site closed until the end of the fair.

Chairman Paul Holland said: “It’s unfortunate that they (the organisers) aren’t opening the area to travellers until the end of August.

“I understand that many travellers are in Dorset for the fair and so to me, there is some logic in the idea of the site being open early.

“We have asked for this, but we’ve been told that the date is set.”

Mr Oliver, the son of the fair’s founder Michael, said: “The travellers’ site for the steam fair is exactly that.

“It is for travellers coming to the steam fair. It is not for problem areas in the rest of the county or to push travellers to Tarrant Hinton. It has specifically been created as a temporary site for travellers visiting the fair, and that’s it.”

In Friday’s Daily Echo, it was revealed that Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill wants a single temporary transit site to serve the whole county.

Dorset’s local authorities are working towards finding gypsy and traveller sites by the end of 2016-17.

They would then need to find funding and get planning permission.

Mr Oliver said: “It is a very, very difficult issue, and not one that this temporary site will solve.”

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