LOCAL residents confronted Newport’s council leader over proposals for a Gipsy site in Bettws yesterday, following a protest march.

Around 50 people went into the civic centre complete with placards where Cllr Matthew Evans came out to accept a petition of around 800 signatures and a letter of objection.

Grabbing the opportunity to make their feelings known about proposals for the site at Yew Tree Cottage, the residents fired questions at the council leader and chanted “What does Bettws say? No, no, no”.

Questions included concerns about access to the site and whether there would be a fair and democratic vote over the proposals.

Cllr Evans assured the group a fair consultation would be taking place and also offered the residents a future public meeting with planning officials.

He said: “We have to find a site due to Welsh Government guidelines.

“This is going out to consultation which gives residents from all over Newport the chance to put forward their views.”

More than 20 of the residents had started off a protest march from the Bettws shopping centre to the King’s Hotel, Newport, where they were greeted by a round of applause from other residents who then joined the march.

Holding up placards reading ‘Bettws says no’ and continuing the chants, the group made their way up to the civic centre as workers and shoppers in the city centre looked on.

Resident, Tracy Collett said that, overall, more than 1,800 petition signatures had now been collected in total.

She said: “The march was to show we mean business and we are not going to take this lying down. We want to ensure there is a democratic vote on this.”

David Phillips of the South East Wales regional equality council which represents the gipsies said: “The fact that so few people turned up reflects the fact that this whole campaign is led by a minority of people in the community.”

Council officers have chosen five possible areas for the site which include land at Pound Hill, Marshfield, two sites at Pye Corner and one at Queensway Meadows, Nash.

EDITORIAL COMMENT: Onus must be on Gipsies

IT WASN’T surprising to see such support for yesterday’s march in Newport against plans for a Gipsy camp.

As we have said before, how we provide Gipsy sites is an issue that is not going to go away. Newport council is currently looking at five areas for a permanent camp.

And, as expected, it faces major opposition from people who simply do not want the site anywhere near their homes.

We believe the Gipsy community has a responsibility to make itself more acceptable to communities. We have spoken to travellers, who agree with us.

Sadly though, scenes such as those this week at Dale Farm in Essex do nothing to help the cause.

The public is quite rightly furious that some Gipsies have moved back on to Dale Farm, clearly flying in the face of the law and local feeling.

It is this image that will stick in the minds of the very people who are against any Gipsy camp in Newport. We have no sympathy with racists and those who spout inflammatory remarks about Gipsies.

That does nothing to help. But we do have sympathy with residents, although the law says the council has to provide a site somewhere. The onus, as we have said before, is on the Gipsy community to make itself more acceptable.