A Selby councillor has criticised plans for traveller sites in the region, calling them “unrealistic” and “incompetent”.

Hundreds of concerned Selby residents have turned out for meetings to discuss the Site Allocations Development Plan Document (SADPD), following the announcement that the council intended to identify ten sites which could be made permanent traveller sites from this year.

Coun John McCartney, of Eggborough ward, has submitted a question to the full council meeting to be held tomorrow asking whether the council regrets “the incompetent way that the consultation has been handled”.

Coun McCartney has also accused the council of alienating 40 per cent of its voters by holding consultations for the document online, and stating that there was “no attempt to involve the communities most affected by the plan”.

Hundreds of residents in villages around the Selby district, including Brayton and Burn, have attended meetings called by their parish councils after the consultations plans were made public.

The list of potential sites, which was reduced from 60 to 45, includes Brayton, Eggborough, Kellington and Hemingbrough, and has even been discussed during Prime Minister’s Question Time in the House of Commons last month.

Coun Jim Deans, of Hemingbrough ward, said: “I think the consultation exercise could have been handled much more sensitively by the officers and it has caused a lot of consternation and panic amongst the population of the villages and the gipsy community.

“The parish councils have done their job, calling public meetings and drawing attention to the public at large, who have responded magnificently and let the district council know, in no uncertain terms, what they think about the consultation process.”

Council leader Mark Crane said he would be responding to the questions in full but it would be inappropriate to do so before the council meeting tomorrow.

The consultation period has been extended to April 18.