Council given £3.25m to create and improve Travellers' sites - Hull

EAST YORKS: New Traveller and Gypsy pitches are planned and existing ones will be improved as part of a multi-million-pound scheme.

East Riding Council has successfully bid for £3.25 million from the Government's Homes And Communities Agency to create 19 new pitches and improve 23 others.

Some of the money will be spent extending the existingTtraveller site in Woodhill Way, Cottingham. The council will then explore solutions to provide additional pitches elsewhere.

A council spokesman said: "The council has a statutory duty to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers and this funding will mean the council will meet the outstanding needs of East Riding travellers.

"New and improved provisions will reduce the number of unauthorised sites and the tensions they can create between Travellers and the settled community and reduce the need for costly enforcement action. Authorised sites allow local authorities to tackle the inequalities, in particular health and education, experienced by Travellers. The council will work with the settled community as well as the travelling community in bringing forward any new or improved sites."

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

The money is part of £47 million being spent on traveller sites across the UK. Bids for a further £13 million are still under consideration. Mr Stunell said: "It will assist hundreds of Traveller families find sites where they want to live and foster better relations with the existing communities and councils.

"We are ending the failed system where Whitehall attempted to dictate where sites went. Instead we have brought back fairness to communities and putting travellers and the settled population on a level playing field."

East Riding Council says redeveloping Woodhill Way will mean East Riding taxpayers paying less for remedial work to the site.