'Why are Leicester city's proposed Gypsy sites in one area?'

From the Leicester Mercury

City residents have expressed concern that seven out of eight potential sites for Traveller camps are in one area of Leicester.

The Mercury reported yesterday that Leicester City Council had drawn up a shortlist of eight sites which could become Gypsy settlements.

Seven are in Beaumont Leys, and the other is in Aylestone.

The settlements would be set up using more than £1.5 million of Government cash.

Many readers have left comments on the Mercury website about the news.

One poster, Neil0123, wrote: "Why do the council only really want to put the sites there?

"What has Sir Peter Soulsby got against this part of Leicester that he wants to put all his eggs in one basket and have all his sites in one small area. That is hardly spreading things evenly or fairly."

Fellow poster Gemski wrote: "So, Leicester council plans on spending £1.5m on these sites. This is hardly an investment for the future.

"How, in the current climate, this sum of money is justified is beyond me. How about instead of creating 'sites' they put the £1.5m into building properties in and around the city which could then be bought or rented by travellers to live in?"

Gemski added: "Why seven of the eight proposed sites are in Beaumont Leys I will never know. Why not shortlist sites in different areas of the city?

"I imagine doing this would create a lot less opposition from people living locally to the proposed areas."

Paulleicester wrote: "I never had any opposition to Travellers sites in Leicester, but oppose the fact that all of the sites where proposed in one area.

"So now they propose even more and a token site on the other side of the city.

"Mr Soulsby fails once again to listen to the people of Leicester."

Depreg wrote: "The camps would be set up using £1.5 million of Government cash.

"The Government has the cash and it's the taxpayer that provides that cash. As a taxpayer, I would suggest there are better uses for £1.5 million."

Some readers took the opportunity to post positive comments about Travellers.

Leicesterman1 wrote: "Although some of the proposed sites seem unsuitable, I'd like to say that not all people are anti-Traveller.

"Having grown up in an area that had regular Travellers as semi-permanent visitors, many with families living in the area for years, they were always hard-working people who paid taxes like everyone else."

Full details of how to have your say can be found at: www.leicester.gov.uk/gypsyandtravellersites