Letter: There Is A Lack of Provision of Gypsy and Traveller Pitches

Published on: 12 Aug, 2017
Updated on: 12 Aug, 2017

From Hilda Brazil

Hilda Brazil was the first Gypsy to become a parish councillor in Surrey. Hilda, herself a Romani (or Roma) Gypsy, has been a GRT (Gypsy/ Roma/ Traveller) liaison officer within Surrey County Council’s (SCC) Family Support Service for 17 years.

The Guildford Dragon’s article Council Builds ‘Bunds’ to Prevent Traveller Incursions is right to point out that there is a lack of provision of Gypsy and Traveller pitches within the borough and indeed across the whole country.

We were really pleased that Guildford Borough Council has just completed six new pitches in Effingham with the cooperation of the parish council and residents association. But, welcome as they are, these new pitches were not for anyone on the waiting list as they were only ever intended to deal with local overcrowding in Calvert Road.

Nobody wants illegal pitches close to them. It is a pity that Surrey County Council does not provide temporary transit bays like Sussex where Gypsies and Travellers can be directed to stay for short periods of time before moving on. If they did then they could also pay a fee for removing rubbish.

The problem of rubbish is a serious one as the cost of cleaning up after they have moved on from illegal encampments can be significant. It is a mystery to me why local authorities don’t simply provide refuse bins as soon as the illegal pitch has been set up.

It doesn’t mean the council are condoning the pitches but if they did this then the travellers could keep the pitches clean. In the long term, this would remove the build up of rubbish and cut the costs of clearing up afterwards.