WORK on a controversial travellers site for the Dudley borough is set to start in a matter of weeks, following a surprise announcement from council chiefs.

A temporary site for travellers on land on Budden Road in Coseley is set to be completed in the Spring after council chiefs gave the green light to put the site back on the table.

The land, which received planning approval in 2018, was canned as a possible site a year ago by the previous Labour administration.

Now, the Conservative-led authority has announced the council-owned land will be used as a temporary site for travellers when they arrive at illegal encampments in the borough.

The decision comes despite fierce opposition from local residents.

Leader of Dudley Council, councillor Patrick Harley, moved to assure residents that the site will be monitored in the "unlikely event" that travellers use the site rather than leave the borough.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council said: "When we get reports of unauthorised encampments we start the necessary legal process quickly, but there is a delay as the legal measures take time to secure, normally between five and seven working days. When travellers do leave the site there is usually the expense of cleaning up which adds to the expense for the tax-payer.

"With a transit site, the travellers, in the unlikely event that they decide to use the site rather than move out of the borough, have to pay a deposit which is returned only if the site is left in the same condition they found it."

The pressure was on for Dudley to secure a transit site, as neighbouring Sandwell has a site in place and Wolverhampton and Walsall are also looking at potential locations, putting the borough at risk of displacement of unauthorised encampments from elsewhere in the Black Country.

Cllr Harley, who has been criticised for returning to the Budden Road site after insisting the council were searching for alternative locations, added: "The issue has been ongoing for years and residents have told us they are fed up with the disruption and damage that unauthorised encampments bring. Our neighbours are all looking to set up transit sites which makes us very vulnerable to illegal encampments so we have to act.

"We really have exhausted every alternative in a bid to find the right site, and that is Budden Road. What is important now is that we monitor the site closely throughout the two years and listen to the views of local people in that time, before reviewing the future of the site at the end of its tenure.”

Dudley Council currently spends around £150,000 a year on legal fees and clean-up costs following unauthorised traveller incursions.

The site is set to cost £300,000 and residents living close to the site will soon receive letters outlining the work and timescales.