A PLAN to create a temporary site for travellers in the Dudley borough will be referred to the council’s scrutiny committee for further debate.

Dudley Council’s cabinet agreed the matter should go before the Place scrutiny committee on December 18 rather than in January as originally planned.

A report to the committee highlights ten potential locations where a temporary site could be set up to help stop travellers setting up illegal encampments.

Budden Road in Coseley is earmarked as the preferred site but land in Webb Street and Fountain Lane, Coseley, are also on the list - along with land in Bott Lane and Clinic Drive and the former Helix factory site, all in Lye. Sites in Thorns Road, Quarry Bank; Blowers Green Road in Dudley; Delph Road, Withymoor; and The Straits in Gornal have also been identified.

Labour councillor Kieran Casey described the shortlisted sites as “interesting locations” while UKIP councillor Dean Perks said including three sites in Coseley on the list made it seem like the area was “some sort of dumping ground”.

But cllr Harley said: ”The whole purpose is it won’t get used.”

Cllr Harley said if the plan succeeds it would rid the borough of the problem of illegal traveller encampments and he added: “This is not about spending taxpayers’ money to create a safe haven for travellers to come and stay in Dudley. It’s about a response to a problem we have year on year. A transit site is one of the most effective means of dealing with that problem.”

He said it would act as a deterrent and that in other parts of the country where transit sites have been created “usage has been minimal”.

Having a dedicated short stay site would give the authority and police the powers to evict travellers from unauthorised sites and move them to the designated transit site where they would be required to pay rent to cover costs of power, water and waste disposal.

Cllr Harley said neighbouring Sandwell Council charges £250 per caravan and £80 a week, payable up front, for use of its recently created transient site and he added: “They will not want to pay £250. We’d look to charge the same price as Sandwell - we wouldn’t look to charge less and make the place more attractive.”

He added: “It’s a political gamble but it's something I’m prepared to do. For too long our borough has been blighted and it's got worse.”

He said travellers had “used playing fields as a toilet” and thrown paint and diesel on cars when they set up camp in Kingswinford and he added: “That’s the sort of thing we want to bring to an end. We have to try to get residents to trust us.”

Strategic director (for the council's Place directorate) Alan Lunt added: “If we provide a transit site it’s likely to hardly ever be used.”

And he said the plan was to get the temporary site in place by summer 2018.

Conservative councillor Laura Taylor added: “All our neighbouring authorities are looking to go down this route if they haven't already. If we don’t do this we could end up with double or triple the problem.”