WARRING councils in North Dorset who fell out over controversial plans to build a traveller site have vowed to begin the healing process.

Shaftesbury Town Council and Melbury Abbas and Cann Parish Council joined forces in their bitter opposition to North Dorset District Council’s plans to build the site on land off the A30.

Dorset County Council eventually approved the plans in March.

But after receiving legal advice that a judicial review had little chance of success, and assurances from the district council that the town council can play an active role in the integration of the travellers into the existing community, relations have begun to thaw.

A spokesman from North Dorset District Council said it welcomed the decision by the county council, adding it was better for the town council, parish council and the district council if they all worked together.

Councillor Simon Pritchard, chairman of Melbury Abbas and Cann Parish Council and Shaftesbury Town Council’s joint gypsy and traveller sites committee said: “The trust between us and the district council just completely evaporated.

“We were and still are fundamentally against the positioning of the new site.

“The town’s only hope now is that the cabinet of the district council have a rethink and drop the plan or find a better place for it to go.

“But as we cannot control that, we would be failing in our duty of care to the residents of the town if we did engage with the district and county council to try and make the best of a bad job.”

The district council’s general manager Stephen Hill explained that a meeting would be held in August to consider the site management and how it can work with the county and town councils to operate the site together.

Shaftesbury Town Council had requested that the district council hand over possession of the land and also wanted to manage the site.

Its requests were turned down, although it has been agreed that the town council can appoint a “gypsy liaison councillor” who will meet new residents and assist in community integration.