Travellers may be offered more city sites to cut illegal camping

Bosses at Leeds Council want to introduce new measures to reduce the number of unauthorised camps which have cost taxpayers almost £2m in clean-up and eviction and legal costs since 2003.

One of the key proposals is the creation of more caravan pitches which, it is hoped, will encourage traveller and gipsy families with Leeds connections to set up camp at places endorsed by the council.

The authority says proposed new pitches – whose locations have yet to be decided – have to go through the planning process before they are opened. They will be built in “non-residential areas...whilst also considering access to facilities and services”.

A report to the council’s executive board, which meets next Wednesday, says new site provision should “significantly reduce, but not wholly resolve, the challenges associated with unauthorised encampments”.

It adds: “The city will always experience some encampments from non-Leeds-based gipsies and travellers who are passing through the city as part of their nomadic lifestyle.”

New site provision “would need to be allied to an evolving application of the full range of the council’s powers to resolve unauthorised encampments as swiftly and effectively as possible.”

Council chiefs have admitted that the plans are “challenging” and that new sites must reduce, not worsen, the community tensions which result from unauthorised encampments.

The council believes that any new site should be no larger than 10 pitches.

A council bid for £1m of Government money for 10 new pitches is expected to be made at the end of this month.

A previous proposal to create temporary or transit camps looks likely to be dropped.

The meeting next week follows from a 2010 inquiry into site provision by the council’s environments and neighbourhoods scrutiny board.

The board presented 12 recommendations, with the conclusion that the current cycle of encampment and evictions was not meeting the needs of gipsies and travellers nor Leeds residents.

The report to the executive committee also urges improved relations between the council and travellers. It also recommends that the existing Cottingley Springs site is not expanded.

A future report is expected to identify a possible site or sites.

“The public will be fully consulted and planning permission required before any work is carried out,” said a spokesman.

The report adds: “A key element of the planning process will be community consultation as community agreement for site development will be essential.”

Gipsies and travellers will also be asked for their views on any proposed sites.

Coun Peter Gruen, executive board member with responsibility for neighbourhoods, housing and regeneration said: “From the progress that has been made so far, I am satisfied that we are rising to the challenge set by the scrutiny board and I hope that the travelling community do the same and meet the standards of behaviour expected by all of us.

“Responding to unauthorised encampments of gipsies and travellers across the city is a key challenge for the council, and the current cycle of encampment and eviction benefits no one, least of all council tax payers.

“The present system clearly isn’t working as we have spent almost £2m since 2003 in evicting travellers and cleaning up after unauthorised encampments. We need to find a way of working with all involved parties to move forward to a much better solution for the people of Leeds.

“We are at the very early stages of looking into new sites, and no decisions have been made on this as of yet.

“We will of course consult fully on any proposals before going ahead.”