MOVE ALONG PLEASE...

Tricky business, commenting on `travellers,` ever since, in 2007, a candidate in a local council election in south Wales, started a petition which read: 'Petition against any proposed itinerant travellers site within Llansamlet and the Swansea Vale area of the City and County of Swansea.'

The Commission for Racial Equality, which receives £19million funding from the Government every year, claimed the use of the term 'itinerant travellers' in his campaign material breached section 31 of the Race Relations Act. It said the two words described the ethnic origin of the group and could lead to discrimination. Instead, the CRE felt that the petition should have drawn attention to the caravans themselves, rather than the people in them.

So, a touchy subject and one which obliges me to be circumspect in my comments, for I can do without our boys in blue knocking on my door and asking me to move along. But it is a subject which has literally come close to home this morning when Mrs. Snopper, out taking Barney for his early morning walk, spied a convoy of trucks hauling caravans driving on to the public open space just down the road.

Now there is good news and bad news about all this. I am forced to conclude that the good news is that the travellers have found an idyllic spot on which to set up camp, for the area in question is flat, open grassland which is regularly and nicely maintained. It is close to local shops and amenities and a nice clean stream flows through it, providing a wholesome supply of fresh water with overhanging trees providing shade from the summer sun. So, as well as for the travellers themselves, the site is also ideal for their collection of chicken, dogs and other animals, all of which is important in maintaining an acceptably inclusive and integrating environment for them.

The bad news for the travellers, on the other hand, is that the site is right next to where the Chairman of the Parish Council lives. In fact, our newfound neighbours moved from another site in the village which was right next to where the sister of the Leader of the District Council lives, so they are either being a little provocative, which I cannot bring myself to believe, or they are blissfully unaware of the strategic significance of their chosen locations within our small community.

All of which leads me to suspect that the powers that be, having been swiftly alerted to the situation, will now be going through the procedures to encourage the travellers to move along once more. But I think those procedures can take at least two weeks to reach their conclusion, which gives us local residents ample time to discuss the price of heather, pegs, tarmaccing of drives and other services and enjoy the 4.00am cock crowing and dog barking that will remind us how fortunate we are to live so close to nature.

Oh, and my illustrated traffic sign at the top? I thought I would include it as a clear example of how the highway authorities really should not be approaching this kind of problem. Honest.