New traveller sites planned

At the moment there are four permanent traveller sites '“ at Maresfield, Hailsham, Polegate and Robertsbridge '“ and one transit site at Southerham, near Lewes.

No-one is saying at the moment where the new transit sites will go, but logic suggests that, as there is already one at Lewes, the new ones will be placed in the centre and eastern ends of the county.

Their existence will make it easier for authorities to move travellers on after they have illegally occupied land.

A three year action plan to protect the rights of gipsy and traveller communities has been agreed to help reduce tensions and promote better relations between communities.

The strategy had been developed with district and borough councils, police, health workers and travelling communities.

High on the agenda was the need to address the problem of unauthorised encampments.

Cllr Bob Tidy, East Sussex County Council member for community services, said: 'A travellers' forum now meets on a regular basis to bring gipsy and traveller representatives together with local authorities and the police to talk through the various issues.

'We recently won a grant from government and added it to our own budget for a 340,000 upgrade for the Maresfield gipsy and traveller site.

'We are not pretending that these initiatives will make problems magically disappear overnight, but I believe we now have the framework in place to reduce tensions and promote better relations between the settled and traveller communities.'