From the Croydon Advertiser
WITH some caravan-dwellers calling for a place to settle in the area, reporter Ross Lidbetter asked the council what it was doing to address the problems caused by a chronic lack of legitimate pitches...
NO matter where you live in Croydon, it is likely Travellers will have pitched up nearby this year.
As caravans pulled in to the car park of Ikea in Valley Park last week, it was the 84th illegal encampment in the borough so far in 2012.
It's a sensitive subject that clearly divides opinion.
On one side some residents are left angered, with previous complaints including used tissue paper in bushes and faeces all over the premises.
But on the other side, travellers feel they are unfairly accused of anything that goes wrong within the area.
At the moment there is only one permanent Gypsy and Traveller site in Croydon – at Latham's Way, off Beddington Farm Road, which has 19 pitches.
The council plans to create ten new pitches by 2021 as part of its housing strategy.
Councillor Dudley Mead, cabinet member for housing, confirmed the search is already underway, but accepts wherever is chosen is unlikely to prove popular.
Cllr Mead told the Advertiser: "The most obvious place is to extend the existing site, which is Latham's Way, but we don't own enough land around there to do that.
"It could be anywhere (in Croydon). We have to have planning permission – I can't just say 'let's put it there'. It has to go out to public consultation.
"It is actually quite difficult to achieve."
In September, council leader Mike Fisher tore into one group of caravan dwellers – branding them "not proper travellers" and "a risk to human health".
Cllr Mead insists it is important not to put all Travellers in the same category.
He said: "The people on Latham's Way, I've only got praise and compliments for them.
"They choose to live in mobile caravans and that's fine.
"They look after their children and we've got to be extremely careful not to upset the equilibrium."
A source close to the Latham's Way site says the community feel a lot of prejudice.
She explained: "We're very self-righteous about calling disabled people or black people names, but it doesn't seem to matter if they are Gypsies, and I can never understand that.
"I suppose people have this vision of them camping on private land and leaving a mess, so they're cast as the bad guys.
"As a community they have a reputation caused by a few and that's not fair.
"When I visit the people off Beddington Farm Road I wouldn't dream of going into their homes with shoes on because they are immaculate."
In terms of finding pitches, the source said it's not too difficult to find a site, but that "it is difficult to find a site where the neighbours tolerate it".
Tarsem Flora, chairman of the Purley and Woodcote Residents' Association, says it is staggering that Croydon Council is spending more than £3,000 a week to clean up after Travellers.
He hoped the council could find a quicker solution in the interests of everybody.
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