Traveller site likely to get the green light - Brighton

The preferred location for a permanent Travellers’ site for Brighton and Hove is inside South Downs National Park.

Brighton and Hove City Council’s cabinet is next week expected to approve the construction of the site at Horsdean, in Braypool Lane, next to the current temporary Travellers’ site.

In papers released ahead of next Thursday’s meeting (March 16), the council said it expected to apply for planning permission for the site in the late summer and for work to begin on it before the end of the year.

The site is expected to cost £1.7 million to build but the council hopes to be able to secure funding for the work from the Department for Communities and Local Government.

I would want my kids to be Travellers, but I want them to go to school and study. I want them to be able to grow up and have proper jobs if they want to

Last night Travellers living at the temporary site said they were keen to find a permanent home, but would be concerned about how decisions were made about who was entitled to a pitch.

A 26-year-old mother-of-three, who refused to be named, said: “I have lived in Brighton on and off for 15 years and continuously for the last four or five.

“This is our home.

“A permanent site is going to make quite a difference to my life. My kids can go to school but I never went to school.

“My family are all here too, my mum and dad and brothers and sisters and aunties and cousins.

“But I would want to know how they are going to keep the bad ones out. I would like to know how they’ll decide who gets a pitch.”

Temporary camps

Having stayed at various temporary camps around the city, including Waterhall, off Ditchling Road, and at Hangleton Bottom, she said her family had been welcomed into the community.

She said: “All my life I have been travelling and Brighton is the best place for Travellers. Brighton is a town that accepts everyone.

“I have a lot of friends who are not travellers.

“I would want my kids to be Travellers, but I want them to go to school and study.

“I want them to be able to grow up and have proper jobs if they want to.”

The new 19-plot site would be located next to the existing transit site, just north of the A27, but within the boundaries of South Downs National Park.

There were 48 potential sites across the city considered for the permanent site.

Three sites – Horsdean, Waterhall and Hangleton Bottom – were then shortlisted ahead of yesterday’s recommendation.

The council report reads: “An extension to the existing transit site at Horsdean is considered to be the most appropriate position in planning and housing terms to locate the proposed permanent Traveller site and so work to meet this need in the city."