Search on for site to home travellers
LAND is to be sought for a site for gypsies and travellers in the Felixstowe area and east of Ipswich.
LAND is to be sought for a site for gypsies and travellers in the Felixstowe area and east of Ipswich.
Council officials have been told a site for up to 20 caravans will be needed.
The site would be for short-stay travellers - providing pitches which they will use for perhaps up to two months before moving on and then another family taking their place.
Suffolk Coastal officers have been told they will also need to provide some permanent pitches on sites in the district for travellers and will need around 30 in the next three years and 50 by 2025.
As yet no land has been identified for either type of traveller site and council officers are looking at a range of sites as part of the work on the new Local Development Framework (LDF) - the planning policy for the future of the district.
Because of the way new travellers arrive and set up home, council officials doubt that directing them to one large permanent site will work.
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A report to the LDF task group said: “A creative and, perhaps, innovative approach may be required.
“Should this involve specific areas of land, whether sites or broad locations, these will be identified in the site specific allocations and proposals development plan document and be the subject of public consultation.”
The council says it will talk to new traveller groups on their needs and how these might be met, keep in touch with parish councils currently affected by illegal encampments, and meet with landowner the Forestry Authority to see if it can help.
Work will also take place with other authorities to identify a suitable site for the transit pitches.
Should councils be providing sites for travellers? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk
