Traveller charity accuses Dorset MP of inciting discrimination

Sir Conor Burns said he believed many local residents agreed with him

A charity representing Gypsies and travellers has accused an MP of "inciting discrimination".

Bournemouth West MP Sir Conor Burns posted a video on social media about plans for a permanent traveller site on a disused car park in his constituency.

In it, he describes the proposal to accommodate "the so-called settled traveller community" as unsuitable "in the middle of this residential area".

The Traveller Movement said Sir Conor's comments "fanned the flames of racism".

The BBC contacted both Sir Conor and Conservative party chair Richard Holden for a response but neither replied.

The disused car park in Branksome has been identified in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council's draft local plan for 15 permanent traveller pitches.

In the video, Sir Conor said people would not expect the "local council to decide who our neighbours are going to be but that's exactly what's going to happen, potentially".

The disused car park was previously a park-and-ride for LV staff

He said BCP had allocated the site "for what they call the so-called settled Gypsy and traveller community".

He added: "I'm not saying they shouldn't have a site.

"I'm saying - in agreement, I think, with many local residents - that this site here in the middle of this residential area is not the right place."

In a letter to Conservative party chair Richard Holden, Traveller Movement CEO Yvonne MacNamara wrote: "The content of the video spoke of Romani (Gypsies) and Irish Travellers as if they were second-class citizens.

"The member for Bournemouth West stated that he did not believe that the new Gypsy traveller site should be located in the Branksome Triangle because it is a 'residential area'.

"We question whether Mr Conor Burns would make such statements about other protected groups, for example Jewish and black communities."

The charity's head of trustees, Pauline Melvin-Anderson, said: "The whole tone of the video is that Gypsies and travellers are a problem to be solved rather than people, individuals, families, valued members of society.

"Particularly, saying there shouldn't be any settled site in a residential area is really, really worrying.

"What it is implying is that people from our community shouldn't be living alongside people from other ethnicities, that we should be living completely separately - out of sight, out of mind."

The proposed site, between two railway lines off Bourne Valley Road, was previously used as a park-and-ride for employees of LV.

In its draft local plan, BCP said its existing site at Mannings Heath was fully occupied and could not be expanded.

It said a new permanent site was needed and the council-owned land at Branksome Triangle had been allocated for this purpose.

A six-week consultation on BCP's draft local plan is expected to begin in March.

The plan is not expected to be finalised until 2025, after which any proposals would need to go through the formal planning application process.

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