LACK of details over funding will delay holding a consultation on how to remodel a Gypsy and Traveller site in Blaenau Gwent a council chief has said.

At a meeting of the county borough council’s place scrutiny committee on Tuesday, October 10, councillors were told that they would not be receiving a report with the results of the Cwmcrachen traveller site consultation at their next meeting in December.

Labour’s Cllr Sonia Behr asked about the “timeline” of when the consultation would start.

Cllr Behr said: “I have had sight of the plans for a while, but I wonder when we can start consulting with the residents.”

Director of regeneration and community services  Ellie Fry said: “We’re having extended conversations with Welsh Government on the replacement because construction costs have massively increased.”

She believed this rise in costs had not been foreseen by the Welsh Government.

Ms Fry said: “We we will have to move this back as we want to make sure we have all those costs and have agreed funding before we consult on the options.”

“It seems sensible to do that rather than go out with options and find they are not affordable.

“This may have to go into the New Year.”

Opposition Independent group leader Cllr Wayne Hodgins said: “It’s paramount that this is looked at with a level of urgency.

“This needs to be one of our priorities.”

Ms Fry said that it remodelling the site “remains” a council priority.

Ms Fry said: “We need to speak to the Welsh Government about the amount of funding that’s available, that’s really important as it’s unaffordable otherwise and we want to ensure we do a good job.”

The consultation response is supposed to be discussed at a future committee so that councillors can decide their preferred option of three proposals.

This would then be put to a full council meeting for a decision by all councillors.

Cwmcrachen is the council’s dedicated Gypsy Traveller site in the county borough and currently has 19 pitches.

In 2019 the council’s Planning committee rejected an application for a larger site with modern facilities which was worth an estimated £4.5 million.

At the time families living on the Cwmcrachen site said it was “too small” and in a “desperate state of repair.”