Jane Jackson, creative director of Rural media company Widemarsh Street, says there is a severe shortage of traveller sites in the county - Herefordshire

From the Hereford Times

I’m writing with reference to your article (Hereford Times, June 7), about the Travellers parking on King George V Playing Fields in Hereford. It obviously attracted many comments on your website.

Anyone interested in understanding why there is a shortage of sites and lack of legal stopping places for Gypsies and Travellers should watch a short film we made on the subject which is now available to watch online.

Sites and Rights, broadcasted on June 9, on the Community Channel as part of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History month, and made by The Rural Media Company, explains why Gypsies and Travellers in the UK have been made homeless as a consequence of planning regulation and legislation going back over many years.

If the media only focus on a site when something goes wrong, people believe all sites are a problem and then no new sites get built, so the problem gets worse and worse.

Currently there are not enough sites: and there are upwards of 3,000 families with nowhere to live. This shortage of sites has had a serious impact on the health and education of the Gypsy community, yet once a site has been built, people often forget it’s there. If every borough council gave one or two permissions a year, the problem would cease to exist.

à Readers can view the film by visiting www.ruralmedia.co.uk/films JANE JACKSON Creative Director Rural Media Company Widemarsh Street