Land to be set aside to house gipsies

The location would be capable of accommodating six pitches with adequate parking spaces.

It is likely to be about 700sq m in size and outside the built up area which has the most spare space. Adjoining land for further expansion will also be a priority.

The county council is to be pressed to consider releasing some of its large land bank cheaply to enable the work to take place.The need to quickly establish a permanent base for the families was agreed this week by Arun District Council.

It comes amid mounting concerns about an increasing number of applications to site caravans and mobile homes on fields in the Aldingbourne area.

The latest list of planning applications being considered by Arun includes a proposal for a mobile home for extended settled gipsy accommodation in Northfields Lane in Aldingbourne.

Yesterday's development control committee of the council was also told that a planning inquiry is to be held into plans to allow two mobile homes for a gipsy family to be sited at The Paddocks in Northfields Lane. Arun refused the proposals.

Two frustrated residents of neighbouring Level Mare Lane who spoke at Monday's meeting of the cabinet said six years of complaints about the matter had got nowhere.

There were now five mobile homes on two nearby pieces of grazing land separated by a middle field.

They were backed by Cllr Jean Goad (Barnham). She told councillors that anger was rising among the area's residents at the increasing number of mobile homes which were appearing.

"You will have noted that the public perception in Aldingbourne is that you, the council, have failed in your duty of care not only to them but also to the gipsies and travellers in not having available sites on which to house them.

"The residents of Aldingbourne need to believe that, if you agree the recommendations, then the intention to implement them will follow as quickly as possible."

The cabinet's decision commits Arun to seek to buy the land needed for six pitches. There is also the need to purchase an area somewhere in the district big enough for up to ten caravans to use as a transit site.

The sites' sizes have been determined by a government study.

Having both sites will enable the regular illegal invasions by travellers of sites such as the London Road car park in central Bognor and the Millennium Wood in Middleton to be dealt with more speedily.

But councillors acknowledged that any location chosen for a travellers' site would alarm those who lived nearby.

Cllr Roger Elkins (Ferring) said: "To say this is controversial, is the understatement of the year so far.

"The government are driving this through. We have to make provision. The situation will be taken out of our hands otherwise."

The government's planning inspectors could take the matter out of the council's hands by designating land for a travellers' site on appeal.

Cllr Gill Brown (Aldwick East), the council's leader, said: "The obligation is to have these permanent sites to resolve these terrible problems we have at the moment."

Council head of planning services Howard Cheadle explained to councillors the current absence of permanent or transit sites placed Arun in a difficult planning position legally.

Dealing with the unofficial sites which were occurring was taking up more and more time of council officers.

They were caught between the inability to take action against the unsanctioned arrivals, because of the lack of an official site, and residents' anger and strong criticisms for failing to remedy the situation.

Some were considering taking Arun to court.

"The officers and development control councillors are in great difficulty in being able to defend the council as government policy is clear that the council should actively be seeking to make provision for the gipsy and traveller community," he added.

A permanent travellers' site is being privately created in the Littlehampton area.