£3.4m boost for Travellers in Wiltshire

Wiltshire has been granted £3.4 million to create and upgrade sites for Gypsies and Travellers.

The money – awarded to Wiltshire Council by the Government – is the largest allocation in the south west.

Of the amount, £1.15million will be used for 20 new pitches and £2.3million is for improvements to 40 existing pitches.

Wiltshire Council will be putting in £250,000 towards the scheme.

Toby Sturgis, Wiltshire Council Cabinet member for development control, said the council had to provide sites for Gypsies and the travelling community by law. It currently has 102 pitches.

He said consultation was ongoing with gypsies and land owners about finding suitable sites for the 20 new pitches which would probably be on three sites.

He said one possible site could be Chelworth Lodge at Cricklade which got planning permission on appeal for a Travellers’ site.

Coun Sturgis added it was also possible that a few of the new pitches could be provided at some of the council’s existing Gypsy sites.

The improvements to 40 pitches would probably be to some on each of the sites the council owns.

These are Thingley at Chippenham (which has 23 pitches), Fairhaven, Dilton Marsh (seven pitches), Lode Hill, Downton (ten pitches), Dairy House Bridge, Salisbury (18 pitches), Oak Tree Fields, Odstock (32 pitches) and Odstock transit site (12 pitches).

Coun Sturgis said: “Where mobile homes have moved in and out there is a lot of uneven concrete.

“The surfaces are not as good as I would like to see and some of the electrical and water connections are not up to standard because they have been altered a number of times.”

He added: “It’s very good news that the Government is providing the capital money for this as we would have had to spend a large amount of our own capital. We can use that capital for something else.”

Andrew Stunell, Communities Minister, said: “This funding will help provide sites in a way that reflects local need in consultation with the local community.

“It will assist hundreds of Traveller families to find sites where they want to live and foster better relations with the existing communities and councils.”