Residents share concerns after travellers' camp site appears in Grangemouth park

The campsite, which features a number of caravans and camper vans, suddenly appeared in Grangemouth’s Rannoch Park at the end of last week, prompting a number of posts on social media sites alerting residents to the new arrivals.

The Falkirk Herald contacted Police Scotland and Falkirk Council regarding the campsite and both organisations confirmed they were aware of the situation in the park, with representatives of the local authority already having visited the site.

A council spokesperson said: “We are aware of the camp in Rannoch Park, and housing staff have carried out a site visit this morning. Following this visit, we will take appropriate action in line with legislative guidelines.”

There is no information as yet on how long the travellers will be staying at the location, although there does now appear to be less vehicles and mobile accommodation present in the park than when the site first set up.

Following a number of posts on Facebook – including some which were encouraging people to sign up to the local neighbourhood watch – and some negative comments members of the travelling community responded angrily by stating some of the posts were plainly racist and showed “how small minded” people in Falkirk and Grangemouth were.

One traveller stated: “Travellers cause no harm to people. When they are moving around they just need a break from travelling, hence why they stop for a few days. Let people live how they want to live.”

The posts were subsequently removed.