Council Sidelines Hannahstown Travellers' Site Andersonstown News, January 10, 1998The future of a proposed permanent site for Travellers on the Hannahstown Road remains in limbo this week after city fathers voted at their monthly meeting on Monday to commission an economic appraisal of the plan, writes Hannah Hayes.
The start of the work on the site last September sparked protests from residents of the nearby Hawthorn Glen estate. Vandals subsequently damaged foundations for the new site as feeling ran high over the issue.
When the Council first obtained planning permission for the Hannahstown site in 1992, the Hawthorn Glen estate did not exist.
A spokesperson for the Residents Association said last night that they had not heard from the Department of the Environment - which is funding the proposed site - or the Council since November.
City Council sources say they can't abandon the Hannahstown plan for fear of being persecuted under the new Race Relations legislation. "But while we continue with the appraisal, we can still consider other locations for the four Travellers' sites we're committed to providing," said a spokesperson for the Council. "Complicating matters is the fact that some of the Travelling families clearly don't want to be located in a new site at Hannahstown."
That's a view endorsed by Sinn Fein Upper Falls Councillor Martin Livingstone who has been liaising between councillors and residents. "The travellers want some place decent to live, but many of them may not want to be on the Hannahstown Road," he told the Andersonstown News.
Cllr Livingstone said the time factor was "important for all sides" but that he was confident the finished report by Coopers and Lybrand would be ready by April so that the issue can be speedily resolved.