Secret talks on new Traveller sites for Lizard Peninsula - Cornwall

From the Falmouth Packet

Two sites in the St Keverne parish have been earmarked as potential pitches on which Travellers can set up home.

The location of both sites is currently being kept firmly under wraps by Cornwall Council, which is in secret talks with the Travellers and the area’s councillors.

However Pam Lyne, Cornwall Councillor for St Keverne and Meneage, said during a meeting of St Keverne Parish Council that county officers had “two sites in mind.”

Speaking after the meeting she confirmed: “They want to ask St Keverne parish councillors which site they would prefer. As soon as they decide they prefer A to B then planning permission will be drawn up.”

Once the plans have been submitted the location of the intended site will be revealed.

It is liable to cause some controversy in the parish and the surrounding areas, with Gypsy and Traveller camps a sensitive issue.

It is understood that Coverack ward members have already met to discuss the possibilities.

Travellers have been living on the Cornwall Council-owned car park in Coverack for around five years.

In January two local residents complained to St Keverne Parish Council that they felt “victimised” after being fined for failing to pay for a parking ticket in the car park – when the Travellers had been staying there “for free” for years.

Jill Bosustow added to members: “Travellers say they’re being victimised but we are, because we’re the ones that pay our rates.”

Council chairman Russell Peters described her predicament as “appalling” and said Coverack was “just being forgotten.”

Back in January Cornwall Council announced that more than £1 million of funding had been set aside to help create 30 new pitches in Cornwall for Romany Gypsies, Irish Travellers and New Travellers.

The plan was for a network of small sites to be developed across Cornwall, to meet existing needs and to address unauthorised encampments.

Mark Kaczmarek, Cornwall Council’s cabinet member for housing and planning, said at the time: “Cornwall Council is committed to ensuring that members of the travelling communities have the same rights, including fair access to education for their children and health services, and responsibilities as every other person.

“We want to find small sites of between five to ten pitches, probably on council owned land, in consultation with local members and town and parish councils.

“Carrick Housing and the council will then take forward the most viable, which take into account how the sites could link into the existing infrastructure.

“New sites will be properly managed sites which will benefit Gypsies and Travellers and the local settled community alike.

“Gypsies and Travellers and the settled community can work together and we’ve all got something in common in wanting our children to be healthy and educated.”