RUSSELL STREET SITE

Work has finally started on Derby's £1.6m official gypsy site but a travellers' leader is warning it will be outgrown within three years. The Russell Street site will have hard-standing plots for caravans, power points and toilet blocks. But gypsy leader Hughie Smith said, "It is not going to be big enough and the council should be looking again and providing a further 12 to 15 pitches in the next two to three years."

The camp is being built following a seven-year saga in which the council was not allowed to evict traveller families from an illegal site in Glossop Street until it had provided them with a permanent home. Russell Street, built on a former Rolls-Royce car park in Osmaston Road, will finally be ready in five months but Mr Smith, president of the Gypsy Council, said traveller families in Derby would soon outgrow the site.

He said, "The children will grow up and marry and have their own children and need their own pitch. We know in Derby the families are quite large and marry quite young in that section of the gypsy community so they will need plots." Resident Mick Whitehead, who has campaigned against the "eyesore" Glossop Street camp, said, "I find it remarkable that a group of people can come in, break into a piece of land, then have £1.6 million spent on them. What have we as the people of Osmaston had spent on us?" A council spokesman said it would look at the need for any future gypsy sites once that need became apparent.

Residents in the area said they had raised the concerns over the size of the Russell Street site long ago and felt other areas, such as land off Raynesway, which were originally dismissed by the council, would have been better suited. Responding to Mr Smith's comments, a spokeswoman for the city council said, "In line with all other households, we respond to current needs, in this case the needs resulting from the Glossop Street site. Due to scarcity of accommodation sources, it is not feasible for us to anticipate emerging needs; rather we will deal with those needs as they present themselves."

It is an approach the Gypsy Council has warned against. Mr Smith said, "My advice to all authorities has always been to look to the future and expansion." Russell Street was designed to accommodate the 12 or more caravans which have been unofficially camped in Glossop Street since 2004. Under Government rules, councils can only move on travellers if they have made provision for a permanent site. Planning permission for Russell Street was granted in 2008 but negotiations between the council and Rolls-Royce over the sale of the land went on until earlier this year. Derby City Council won £1.4m from the Government's Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant to pay for the project.

But the delays over the scheme pushed up its cost by £210,000, which the council will have to find itself. Officials said changes in regulations relating to blocks and hard-standing for caravans had led to the increased costs. Mr Whitehead's home in Elton Road overlooks the existing Glossop Street camp. He said, "I think the travellers have been done in this deal because the site is too small, but the residents of Osmaston have also been done, what has happened to the houses and public open land we were told we would get? Instead we are getting this camp."

The new site will be for permanent residents only and they will be under a tenancy agreement similar to that of any other council tenant. This means they will have to pay council tax, water rates and any other services they receive on the site. The council said it is currently liaising with Derby Homes, which will manage the site on its behalf, to determine the rent levels. Council tax will then be levied on the properties at an appropriate rate to the rateable value. The Housing Act 2004 (Section 225) requires local authorities to provide gypsy and traveller sites. (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, May/11)

Officials have admitted that Derby's new £1.6 million travellers' camp gives the city council no extra powers to move people on from public land. Some councillors thought the authority would now have greater powers to more quickly move on travellers camping on parks and public land. But Brian Frisby, director of younger adults and housing, said while Government rules meant the council had to provide a camp it had no impact on the authority's ability to evict illegal travellers. And the city council's Labour opposition leader, Paul Bayliss questioned, in that case, if the camp had been worth the expense.

He said, "One of the reasons for building it was that if we got a permanent travellers' site and it's recognised as such then under the previous Government's legislation, it did enable you to move other people on quickly. There is little point going through this much pain if we don't get any real advantage." Derby's first permanent travellers' camp, in Russell Street, was finished this month using Government cash. It provides 17 pitches, with washing and kitchen facilities and power points. It has been filled by travellers who have been illegally camped in Glossop Street for a decade, freeing up that land for housing.

Conservative councillor Phil Ingall, in charge of housing, initially said the authority would be able to evict any other travellers more quickly because of the camp. However, an officer later said Mr Ingall had meant that having a camp actually strengthened the council's legal position against any challenges from travellers camped on public land and whom it evicted. Mr Frisby said, "We assessed and identified the needs of the travellers at Glossop Street and responded by developing a permanent site for them at Russell Street."

The council had no evidence of the need for any additional sites. Mr Frisby added, "Travellers do, by their very nature, travel, and inevitably from time to time there will be occupation of travellers within the city boundaries of land which is either privately or publicly owned. Of course, owners of such land will take action to recover possession of the land should the travellers fail to move on. This is common practice within the city and nothing in this respect is likely to change." Lib Dem councillor Bob Troup was in charge of housing under his party's control of the council.

He had hoped the new camp would mean travellers setting up long-term settlements on land assigned for housing, such as Glossop Street, could be moved on. He said a problem still existed in the fact the city still had no site for temporary or "transient" travellers. He said, "This is a permanent camp for those from Glossop Street but if travellers come into the city and pitch on land for a few days, we have no site to move them to and that is a problem." The travellers from Glossop Street moved in and said they were delighted with the new camp, which is full.

Mother-of-two Sheila Mongan, had lived at Glossop Street for nine years. She said, "Here I have a shower and toilet and place to do the washing. Before we had to pay to go to Moorways Leisure Centre to have a shower or use the toilets. I also used to have to pay for fuel to run a generator for power whereas now we have electricity. It is much better here. It's nice to have a proper address." (Source: Derby Evening Telegraph, Sep/11)

Comment:
They lived at Glossop Street for nine years? How can they be classed as travellers? Who else would be allowed to occupy land illegally and get away with it for nine years?