The search for suitable locations for authorised gypsy and traveller sites by B&NES Council has been branded a 'shambles' by Conservative Councillors.

The accusation comes after it emerged that three sites, at Radstock, Keynsham and Stanton Wick which the ruling Lib-Dems had said were rejected could still, according to the latest report from Council officials, be considered as potential locations, while several of a further 27 newly-proposed sites have already been criticised as 'non-starters'.

At a meeting of the Council's Planning, Transport and Environment Scrutiny Committee on Thursday, 23rd August residents and Councillors lined up to criticise the authority's flawed site selection process.

Residents from Stanton Wick, Radstock and Keynsham pressed the authority's Lib-Dem Cabinet Member for Homes and Planning, Cllr Tim Ball, to confirm that the three sites proposed for their areas had now been ruled out. However, despite previous statements by the Lib-Dems that these sites had been 'rejected', Cllr Ball, Lib-Dem, would only reiterate that these sites were 'highly unlikely' to form part of the Council's 'final plans', and would not confirm that they would be ruled out at the Cabinet's September meeting.

The Council was criticised for publishing a 'raw' list of 27 new possible sites without filtering out those which could not be delivered, causing more anguish for residents in those areas.

Conservative Councillors have slammed B&NES Council's process as a 'debacle' and called on the Lib-Dem Cabinet to start the process afresh.

Cllr GeoffWard, the Conservative Shadow Cabinet Member for Homes and Planning, who also sits on the Scrutiny Panel, said:"B&NES seems to determined to turn what is already a shambles into a debacle.

"First, the Lib-Dems put forward sites which are wholly unsuitable, then they say they are withdrawing three of them, then they backtrack on this.

"Now the Council has published a list of 27 new locations which have been suggested as possible traveller sites, but with no analysis of their suitability or deliverability. They have even published sites which are not even available and they still have sites within greenbelt.

"Publishing sites which are complete non-starters, without any assessment of their viability, will simply cause further undue alarm amongst local residents. Lib-Dems should accept that they have messed up this whole process from the beginning, call a pause to the plans and restart the process in a proper manner. Otherwise, the Council is continuing to waste more time and money on a flawed process."