Traveller sites research is branded 'diabolical' - Cambridgeshire

 Research which found South Cambridgeshire would have to take the biggest share of new Traveller sites in the region has been dubbed “diabolical”. As the News reported, the county council found 326 additional permanent pitches would be needed across the area by 2031 and that 114 should be located in the rural district around Cambridge. But members of South Cambridgeshire District Council said the findings varied wildly from a more rigorous exercise carried out five years ago. Other districts had seen their estimated demand dramatically drop and councillors questioned whether other authorities had been incorrect, or even misleading, in their submissions. The study was meant to help to identify new plots but Cllr Mark Howell, the council’s housing chief, condemned it as “absolutely diabolically bad”. Banning any use of the research until it was clarified, Cllr Howell said: “In no way can I accept the report as it stands at the moment.” At Cllr Howell’s regular portfolio meeting, councillors questioned why Fenland’s expected need for the next decade had dropped from 75 to two since the last study. And cabinet member Cllr Nick Wright criticised the “continuing disgrace” that Cambridge was not providing new pitches. Melbourn’s Cllr Jose Hales said: “Someone is lying.”