A TRAVELLER site for up to a hundred caravans has been agreed close to the Great Dorset Steam Fair ground near Tarrant Hinton.

The site, off the A354 Salisbury Road, will only be in use for up to 21 days while the steam fair takes place.

In previous years up to 90 vehicles have been parked up there although on the last occasion the fair was held it was only used by one vehicle.

Dorset Council’s area planning committee were told that there was concern locally that the field could be used permanently for travellers and gypsies, but were told that the use would be tied in only to the steam fair and would only be in use for up to 21 days if the fair remained at its current location on Tarrant Down.

Councillors were told that without the official site Dorset Police would be powerless to move on travellers and gypsies who come to the county for the Steam Fair parking up in unauthorised areas.

They were told that the site had a water supply and that temporary loos and other facilities would be brought in and then removed at the end of the 21-day period. There was also pedestrian access to the Fair site from the field, via a farm track, which only involved one road crossing.

The area planning committee was told that although the site was in the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty the use was justified because it was only temporary and if a site was not provided was likely to result in random parking and camping throughout the area.

The steam fair site itself, over 250 hectares, uses roughly a quarter of its area for caravans and camping but precludes lorries which traveller’s often use for their own accommodation.

Tarrant Hinton parish council chairman Mike Nathan was critical of Dorset Council for taking two years to agree the site and said there had been little communication from the authority throughout the period to address residents’ concerns about the site becoming permanent, removed from the steam fair use.

He said there was a worry that the word ‘permanent’ should not be used to describe the site as it was only a temporary site for up to 21 days once a year tied to the Great Dorset Steam Fair at its current site.

Mr Nathan said there was a recognition that the site was needed and acknowledged that it had been run successfully in the past.

Illustration – The traveller and gypsy site at Tarrant Hinton