The proposed sites would have toilets, showers and electricity

Devon County Council wants to create the sites at the Haldon picnic area, near Exeter, and alongside the A381 at Woods Cottage, near Totnes.

The council is bidding for a share of �8m of government funding which has become available because of a new national policy regarding travellers and Gypsies.

The public meetings are taking place at Follaton House in Totnes on Wednesday night, and at Newton Abbot on Thursday night.

Stopping places

Research shows that serious health and education problems within the travelling community are at least in part caused by the decline of traditional stopping places.

The council said unauthorised camps cost Devon landowners more than �25,000 a month, but this scheme would ease the problem without costing the council tax payer anything.

The county council says that when unofficial places are closed down, the problem just moves elsewhere.

The sites at Haldon and near Totnes would have showers, toilets, clean water, electricity and travellers would have to pay rent. Both sites are currently occupied by travellers.

People concerned

Councillor Brian Berman, whose ward, Belvedere, includes Haldon, said he was in favour of the scheme.

He said about 15 to 20 families at the Haldon site who had been there for some time had a tacit agreement with the county council to stay there for two to three years because they had nowhere else to go.

But he said there had been a fresh influx of travellers in the last few months who he said had caused a big mess in the area and local people were becoming concerned.

In addition to the two sites, the county council also wants to develop a network of roadside emergency stopping places on council-controlled land.

These would not have the facilities of a transit site, but would provide a place to stop for a few days if there was an urgent need.