Bob Hall Politics Show South West

The lack of official sites for travellers has caused considerable problems throughout the South West in 2004.

Travellers: Moving on?

In Exeter, travellers simply moved from one illegal pitch to another when they were evicted - upsetting local residents and landing the city council with huge clear up and legal costs.

The lack of lawful sites has caused particular problems this summer in Exeter.

A convoy of caravans and lorries moved onto council playing fields at Pinhoe in July 2004.

Antisocial behaviour

It was two weeks before they could be evicted leaving behind 10 tonnes of rubbish. Their presence caused considerable anxiety among residents.

Cllr Valerie Dixon said: "I had a lot of people ringing me up, saying they were very scared.

"They were shooting rabbits and racing on the football pitches.

"They were so antisocial. They were not what I would call travellers.

"They were people just out to make as much trouble as they could while they were here. They certainly did that."

The travellers are believed to have moved up to Exeter after being evicted from a recreation area in Plymouth.

"They occupied several sites in Exeter, staying for around a fortnight and offering hedge cutting, garden repairs and ditching services wherever they went.

Each incursion landed the City Council with a �2,000 bill in clear up and legal costs.

Threatening behaviour?

Cllr Michael Browning said: "The local authority unfortunately has its hands tied to a certain degree. It has to go through the legal processes.

"There is also the problem that members of our staff have been threatened on occasion by travellers.

"To be blunt, we do not pay them enough to put their lives on the line."

Allegedly, on one occasion a member of staff was told by a traveller in the presence of police ' you put that notice on my vehicle and I'll kill you."

The statutory requirement for councils to provide residential sites for gypsies and travellers was repealed 10 years ago.

Local authorities have a legal responsibility under the Human Rights Act to consider the health, welfare and education of the travelling community.

Up to 3000 travellers are reckoned in to be in Devon in any one year.

Devon County Council says only 200 of those are occupying unauthorised sites.

Cllr Des Schadrick said: "It is a particular problem. We are spending �25, 000 a month meeting our obligations to travellers and dealing with enforcement.

"At the moment, we are spending far more on enforcement than meeting the education and welfare needs of travellers and I think the balance is probably wrong."

Official transit sites

Devon County Council sees the solution in creating official transit sites and emergency stopping places. funded wholly through the Government's Gypsy Site Refurbishment scheme.

Travellers would pay a rent in return for clean water, toilets and electricity.

Sadly an official gypsy campsite at Tintinhull near Yeovil was vandalised by a 100 travellers earlier in 2004.

Tintinhull was one of many places in the South West that became an unofficial stopover for two to three weeks in the summer.

Exeter bore the brunt of the illegal occupations. The city council is calling for new byelaws to evict travellers more quickly - with more co-operation from the police and the local MP.

Ben Bradshaw said: "The City Council has acted quickly in evicting these travellers from illegal sites but it is up to Devon County Council to provide more official sites for them to go to.

"If there is any way of speeding up the current processes then I can put that to Parliament."

Devon County Council has been surveying potential areas for transit sites, including Haldon Hill which has been illegally occupied but that has been rejected on planning grounds.

Cllr Schadrick said: "Clearly, if we had a site available, then they could be moved into one of these sites.

"We have not come to any decision on being site specific.

We are looking at a large number of sites across the county at the moment - but they would be introduced in areas that traveller have traditionally moved into over the years."

The Government's policy on gypsies and travellers is currently under review. Meanwhile the Gypsy Council is calling for the duty for local authorities to provide and run sites to be reinstated and for changes to planning laws to ensure land is made available.

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