CHRISTCHURCH councillors have opposed potential plans for BCP Council to provide stopping places for travellers.

On Wednesday, the council’s cabinet gave the green light for a cross-party group of councillors to begin looking at ways of reducing the number of unauthorised encampments being set up

This was given despite the cabinet's two Christchurch Independent members opposing the move over fears it would “bring issues to Christchurch that we currently don’t have”.

Across Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole there are an average of 50 unauthorised encampments reported each year which cost the council about £100,000 to manage.

A review of the council’s policies to tackle the issue has been carried out by the cross-party working group which has already made a series of recommendations of measures that should be introduced.

These include only “limited” work to install physical measures preventing access to spaces frequently targeted, providing alternative stopping places for travellers and considering putting pre-emptive injunctions in place in “hot spot” locations.

But concerns have been raised that providing permanent sites could create problems in areas less affected by the unauthorised encampments.

Speaking at Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Christchurch Independent councillor Margaret Phipps, the cabinet member for planning, said the council should consider other initiatives.

“Christchurch, historically, does not have a big problem with unauthorised encampments and they have been successfully managed when we have had them,” she said.

“I have heard it said that we hadn’t had a problem because there was a site in Dorset when we were part of the county council but that has only been in existence for a couple of years.

“In the last six years, Christchurch has had something like only 12 incursions – it is not very many – whereas Bournemouth and Poole have had a whole lot more.

“I keep hearing it said that in the interest of fairness there should be stopping places across the whole area but this could be seen as bringing issues to Christchurch that we don’t have.”

Dorset County Council, of which Christchurch council was a part, had a transit site, that has since been inherited by Dorset Council, which meant it could legally force unauthorised encampments to move on, however BCP Council does not meaning evictions are slower.

Despite the opposition of Cllr Phipps and her fellow Christchurch Independent, councillor Lesley Dedman, the cabinet agreed that the working group consider the measures, including new stopping places, before agreeing to any final approvals at a later date.

Cabinet member for the environment, councillor Felicity Rice, said the council should not “pass off” work to look at ways of reducing the number of unauthorised encampments being set up in the area.

“This was a difficult piece of work and all of the recommendations were thought about incredibly deeply with the equivalent of 56 hours put into it,” she said.

“In years gone by this work has been shied away from but it’s incredibly important for many of our residents and the travelling community.”

As a result of the cabinet’s approval of the report, the working party will meet again to explore in more detail the feasibility of the measures it had put forward.