Hopes for new Traveller sites - West Briton

From the West Briton

CORNWALL COUNCIL is monitoring a Travellers' camp near an engine house on the Great Flat Lode at Camborne.

The group, believed to be six people with five small caravans and a converted vehicle, arrived in June last year.

The council is currently considering the accommodation and welfare needs of the group.

"This group, along with all other unauthorised encampments on land owned by or responsible to Cornwall Council, is monitored as the council actively looks for land for authorised sites where basic amenities can be given, such as water and toilet facilities for which the occupiers will pay a rent," said a council spokesman.

It was announced last month that Carrick Housing, the arms-length management organisation which looks after the council's homes in the former Carrick district, has successfully bid for funding for the provision of new authorised Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Cornwall Council, along with every other local authority in the country, has a duty to provide suitable sites to meet the needs of its Gypsy and Traveller community.

Cornwall has a history of unauthorised encampments and a lack of regulated alternative sites to move people to. The council added: "This government funding has been made available to provide new sites to address the accommodation needs of our Gypsies and travellers.

"It is hoped that a network of small sites can be developed across Cornwall to meet existing needs and to address unauthorised encampments."