HCA launches fund for traveller sites
The government’s housing agency has launched a £32m fund for gypsy and traveller sites
Councils, housing associations and arms length management organisations can bid for a share of the money from the Homes and Communities Agency for 2010/11 to build new pitches and improve existing sites. The closing date for applications is 4pm on 30 April 2010.
There were 25 successful bids for the 2009/10 fund which will provide 90 new pitches plus improvements to existing ones for grants totalling nearly £17m.
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Readers' comments (2)
Lulu | 12/02/2010 2:10 pm
Difficult one this, as we are probably all NIMBY's at heart. The threat of a traveller site hangs over the village where I live and I am working hard to to get my head round why and how the village needs one, particularly as the travellers involved in the consultation told the village they didn't want a formal site imposed upon them! I'm not suggesting that a caravan is a good place to live full time and obvious travellers are denied access to many of the services that we take for granted but personally I struggle to understand why HCA funding (which could disappear altogether in the next year) must be diverted from providing homes from the many people whose homes have been re-possessed as a result of the recession or who have languished for years on housing waiting lists.
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Jester | 15/02/2010 8:16 am
One of the reasons for this is that the Government have somehow got into theirs heads that travellers live some idyllic lifestyle. My experience of working with travellers suggests that they often have high levels of worklessness and illiteracy and that domestic violence is commonplace. In addition, many people's experience of travellers is that they pitch up, cause havoc for local businesses and communities and then leave m leaving empty gas bottles and other rubbish for the Council to then clear up. I do realise that this is not the case for some, but it certainly is for others. Before calling everyone who objects to traveller sites NIMBYs I think it would be useful to acknowledge that there can be significant issues with travellers that need to be addressed.
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