Traveller sites to expand after funding victory - Doncaster

Traveller and Gypsy sites are set to expand in the borough after Doncaster Council was awarded £1.44 million in Government funding.

The money, overseen by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), has been allocated for 16 new pitches in Doncaster following a bid for a portion of the £60 million from the Government.

The aim is to help Traveller communities with better facilities and reduce unauthorised sites which create tensions in the community.

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

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

Mr Stunell said it would end the failed system where Whitehall attempted to dictate where sites went.

He added: “New authorised sites, with the support of local communities, will be treated on an equal footing as new bricks and mortar homes, with councils getting powerful financial benefits for building authorised sites where they are needed.”

The news comes after travellers had to be evicted from illegal Doncaster encampments twice in as many days in November.

Enforcement Officers ordered the group, who had originally arrived in Conisbrough, to leave Doncaster after a court order was taken out against them only for them in Edlington.