Labour council spends more than £500,000 of taxpayers' money on protecting THREE traveller caravans

A Labour council has spent more than £500,000 of taxpayer cash on security for three traveller caravans.Security guards, dogs and alarms worth £538,000 were funded by Newport City Council for the Ellen Ridge site, which has just three residential pitches.Welsh Conservatives said the 'astonishing sum' should be explained and whether it represented 'value for money' investigated.Last year Newport City Council tendered a contract for 'security services' at the South Wales site which invited expressions of interest from 'qualified and experienced' providers to 'prevent unauthorised access, illegal occupation and to ensure the ongoing safety and well-being of residents'.It said the site would need guarding 'up to 24/7', with regular perimeter checks, responding to and reporting incidents and 'conflict de-escalation' while 'ensuring respectful and culturally sensitive engagement with residents'.Beset by scandal in recent years, Ellen Ridge was the site of an illegal puppy-selling ring which saw dogs bred in sheds and led to six members of the same family being jailed in 2024. A South Wales council spent more than £500,000 to protect the Ellen Ridge traveller site, which has just three pitchesEleven members of the McDonagh family admitted animal welfare offences and all were banned from owning dogs for at least ten years after the RSPCA found animals emaciated, thirsty and unwell at the traveller site.Six men – Martin, Patrick, Francie, John, Patrick and Edward McDonagh – aged 22 to 47 were jailed for between 18 months and three-and-a-half years after admitting conspiracy to defraud and animal welfare offences, while five women received community orders.Judge Geraint Walters said the family engaged in 'carefully coordinated action' which left those who had bought the animals in 'unspeakable distress'.The RSPCA found the puppies were advertised as 'home bred, healthy, and well-socialised family pets' but that some were bred in sheds, bought from abroad and knowingly sold with health issues.Gwent Police raided the traveller site in April 2020 and seized 21 dogs, four of which had been stolen and were returned to their owners.The sentences came after the McDonagh family were ordered to leave Ellen Ridge in 2021 after two years of 'illegally' occupying the site.Newport City Council said at the time that the family did not qualify for a pitch on the site and a court judgment said the family admitted to being 'trespassers on the land'.But a judge said the council 'could and should relocate them from the part of the Ellen Ridge site where they currently are' to 'other parts of the land and tolerate them as trespassers there instead of seeking to evict them from the entirety of the land'.It is unclear whether the McDonagh family still occupy pitches on the land.Speaking about the revelation over the security bill at Ellen Ridge, Welsh Senedd member Natasha Asghar said: 'More than half a million pounds in additional security and alarm costs at a site comprising just three residential pitches is an astonishing sum.'Newport taxpayers have a right to know exactly why this was necessary, which companies received the money and whether it represented value for money.'The Conservative MS said there remained concerns over anti-social behaviour in the city's centre and called for more funding to tackle the problem. There are just three residential pitches at Ellen Ridge but a council tender last year said it may require 24/7 monitoringA Newport City Council spokesman said: 'The council has a legal responsibility to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers and, where there is an identified unmet need, to provide suitable sites such as Ellen Ridge to meet that need.'It clearly would not be appropriate to discuss any security arrangements or the reasons for them.'Ms Asghar began the Save Newport High Street campaign after business owners reported burglaries, shoplifting and aggressive behaviour.Newport City Council said it was 'misleading' to conflate the issues of anti-social behaviour and traveller site spending because they were funded from different budgets.A spokesman said: 'The council's public protection service is extremely active in the city centre.'Officers and politicians regularly engage with the businesses in the city centre through different forums including meetings organised by Newport.'The council has invested £350,000 this year in increased safety measures in the city centre which includes upgrading the CCTV system and employing an extra warden.'The Daily Mail contacted Newport City Council for further comment.