Edinburgh resident demands review after council claims Traveller camp cost just £500
FOI request finds Travellers actions in Newcraighall cost Edinburgh Council £500
An Edinburgh resident has questioned the findings of a council FOI regarding a Traveller encampment at Newcraighall Park.
The concerned local, who asked not to be named, submitted a Freedom of Information request to the local authority to find out how much public money was spent dealing with the illegal camp set up by Travellers in the Edinburgh area in May 2025.
People living near the local park demanded action be taken against a group of Travellers who took over the community space and caused a school’s sports day to be cancelled when they pitched up.
An estimated 21 caravans and multiple other vehicles including a quad bike parked up at Newcraighall Park on May 14 last year.
The group was eventually moved on around two weeks later when the council issued a legal notice to quit the site, but only after the Travellers had infuriated locals by verbally abusing residents and leaving large amounts of rubbish behind.
One local resident who wanted to know how much public money was spent dealing with the Travellers last year, was surprised when his FOI request revealed the council had spent just £500.
This amount covered waste removal, litter picking, an environmental clean-up, legal fees, court expenses, and eviction enforcement costs. As well as internal council staff overtime or security resources deployed, and immediate infrastructure repairs or preventative measures (e.g., barriers, bollards) installed after the Travellers were moved on.
Unhappy with this response, the local resident has now formally requested an internal review into the handling of his FOI request.
He is asking the council to conduct a “full and adequate search” across relevant operational departments “to retrieve the missing cost data for clean up, waste removal, and repairs” to find out the full costs.
In his request, he said: “If the council's official position is that absolutely zero costs were recorded for waste removal, clean up, or infrastructure repairs related to this encampment, you must explicitly confirm this and formally apply the relevant EIR exception for those specific categories, explaining why these operational costs were not recorded.”
Speaking to the Evening News, the local resident questioned the council’s FOI findings.
He said: “The council is claiming the total costs are only £500, which seems unlikely. I have now referred this for an internal review.
“I suspect the reality is the council simply doesn't record the costs for clean-ups and repairs, which is why they won't provide them. We will see what the internal review turns up, but I am fully prepared to refer this to the Scottish Information Commissioner if need be.
“The core issue here is financial negligence. The council claims they don't have the budget to secure the park. However, if they aren't tracking the annual taxpayer money spent on ongoing legal, clean-up, and repair work across 2025 and 2026, they have no baseline.
“They are claiming a lack of budget to secure the park while completely failing to quantify the recurring costs of leaving it inadequately secured.”
A City of Edinburgh Council spokesperson said: "Every Freedom of Information request is assessed on a case by case basis in line with the relevant legislation. There is always a presumption in favour of disclosing the requested information - we release as much information as possible to applicants to ensure transparency and accountability, in line with regulations.
"However, there are some circumstances in which we cannot provide information, for example for legal reasons or because it includes personal data. If applicants are unhappy with how we have dealt with their request then they have the right to appeal the decision."
A group of Travellers returned to Newcraighall Park briefly this year, on June 14, again causing the local school sports day to be moved, before they were moved on later that week.