Government urged to clarify its stance on building traveller sites

The move by Wakefield Council follows a public outcry about controversial plans to shut a tip in Ossett and use the land for a travellers' site.

The plans have sparked major concern in the Ossett and Gawthorpe areas with residents starting a petition which last week had been signed by more than 2,500 people.

Leader of Wakefield Council Coun Peter Box has written to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles to ask what requirement the Government is placing on local authorities for providing sites for travellers within their local development frameworks (LDF), a blueprint for future planning.

Last month, Mr Pickles said he is to revoke the "planning circulars" issued by the former Labour government which set out strict requirements for town halls on the provision of land for gypsies.

Mr Pickles also revealed he was also looking at ways of increasing local authority powers to tackle unauthorised encampments, which are a source of major tension across the country and in parts of Yorkshire.

At the same time, however, councils are to be offered financial incentives for developing authorised sites where possible.

Wakefield Council is holding public talks on its blueprint proposals, prompting an outcry on the proposal to use land at Ossett household waste recycling centre, in Owl Lane, Ossett, as a site for gypsies and travellers.

No decisions on land use in the LDF have yet been made.

Deputy leader of Wakefield Council with responsibility for the LDF Coun Denise Jeffery said: "Throughout the development of the LDF framework we have sought to follow government guidelines.

"Within the government guidelines there has been a requirement to include potential traveller sites.

"However, with recent indications from the secretary of state that he intends to relax the requirement to provide travellers sites, Coun Box has written to him to seek clarification.

"If it becomes clear that we won't be required to provide further traveller sites – we will look again at our proposals.

"I would like assurances from the Secretary of State that we will still have powers to respond to unauthorised encampments without additional traveller site provision which LDF proposal would have guaranteed." In his letter Coun Box, said: "At the present time, government circulars place a requirement upon us to make provision for travellers in a settled community within our local development framework.

"Under the circumstances, I would be grateful if you could clarify, whether it is your intention to remove the requirement upon all local authorities to make provision for travellers through local development frameworks."

Speaking last month, Mr Pickles said: "Unauthorised developments have created tensions between travellers and the settled population. We want to redress the balance and put fairness back into communities.

"Like the rest of the population, the majority of travellers are law-abiding citizens and they should have the same chance of having a safe place to live and bring up their children.

"These changes will put travellers who play by the rules on an equal footing.

"But at the same time, we will not sit back and allow people to bypass the planning rules that everyone else has to abide by.

"That's why we will strengthen the powers that councils have to enforce against breaches of planning rules and tackle the abuse of the planning system."