BARASSIE residents have hit out after problems with travellers who made camp at the beach car park last week.

Height restriction barriers, installed by South Ayrshire Council to prevent travellers moving in, were temporarily taken away during a kite surfing event.

The travellers then moved in - but left the site after the local council vowed to take action . 

One resident told the Troon Times: “It is a full encampment and they moved along from the Low Green in Ayr.

“They have managed to get into the car park despite the height restriction. It was removed to allow for a watersports event over the weekend.

"I fear this problem will not go away soon.”

Before the travellers left, David Burns, Head of Housing and Facilities at South Ayrshire Council, said : “The travellers do not have permission to be there. They have formally been given notice to leave the site and we have initiated legal proceedings to remove them.” 

The height restrictions have caused controversy in recent months.
A tourist who regularly visits Troon feared they could be forcing visitors away.

He said: “I think the car parks they have got are limited and there’s not a lot of spaces. You’ll find that there are cars there but you can’t get anything bigger in. Anything that people have got, like motorhomes, can park within the bays.

“It’s not as if they’re too big or too small but the problem is that there isn’t enough spaces especially down the front at Barassie where they’ve put the height barriers up. 

“That stops people from going and spending the day there.
“I think that would see the town lose a lot of tourists and people wanting to go to the shops and having the barrier means they will miss out on that I think.”

But residents who live opposite the car park want the height restrictions to remain in place to prevent travellers from moving in.

Our source previously said: “I have lived here for 37 years and we did not have an issue until about four or five years ago.

“One Friday evening a group of travellers arrived and set up camp at the car park on Barassie Beach. Police tried to remove them but they refused to leave.

“They eventually left but dumped all their rubbish and did not clean up after themselves. I can accept people want to come here on holiday but this was not an isolated incident as they nothing would be done.

“The council had to help us to get a height restriction put in.”

South Ayrshire Council have confirmed that the travellers have since been moved on.