Edinburgh travellers' appeal appears to buy them more time after eviction notice at illegal Granton site
A group of Edinburgh travellers who were expected to be evicted from an illegal site today are still there, after they lodged an appeal through a lawyer.
The group of travellers at the site of the proposed new Art Works project, some of whom have resided there since 2019, lodged an appeal last week following an eviction notice served on them on January 5, giving them until today, Monday, January 26, to move on, allowing work on the Scottish Government arts project to begin.
The Scottish Government has said that despite this hold-up, it still hopes to have the site cleared by the end of the month.
However, one of the travellers, Jim, who asked us not to reveal his surname, is adamant that he and his family are not moving until they receive accommodation elsewhere, particularly given that his wife is due to give birth next month.
He said: “Nobody turned up this morning to evict us. It must be because of the appeal. I don’t know if that is the case to be honest, but they haven’t turned up to move us on.
“It’s still early yet. The Scottish Government were contacted by our lawyer. I don’t know how long it will take to find out if our appeal to stay here is successful.
“My wife is due on February 24, and she just finished the last of her antibiotics after being ill recently, so hopefully she is ok now with her pregnancy and everything goes well, but this situation isn’t helping.
“We are just hoping for the best and we’ll see what happens. I’m just focusing on my wife and baby, and hoping the pregnancy goes well.
“I hope things get left alone the way they are, or they offer us somewhere else to stay, but nobody has contacted me about accommodation.”
Locals living near the illegal travellers site in Granton, situated between Waterfront Avenue and West Granton Road, have previously complained about anti-social behaviour and fires being lit on the site.
Art Works is a planned new free-to-visit art experience set to be built at the illegal travellers site in Granton, which is Scottish Government land, with the project recently receiving the required funding in the Scottish Budget to proceed.
Despite the eviction order being appealed, a Scottish Government spokesperson still believes the site will be cleared and secured by the end of January.
He said: “Development on the site is due to start following the green light in the Scottish Budget for construction of The Art Works project. Site development and construction works will make it impossible for people to remain there.
“The Scottish Government has gone through a legal process to obtain an order requiring those illegally camped on Scottish government-owned land to leave. This notice was served 5 January.
“We continue to work closely with the City of Edinburgh Council to have the land in Granton cleared and secured by the end of the month. Both are working to deliver a suitable and sustainable solution which includes appropriate accommodation being identified and made available and balances the needs of all communities involved.”