PEOPLE in Liskeard and Menheniot are being given the opportunity to have their say over a proposal for a gypsy and traveller site at Horningtops.

Cornwall Council and Cornwall Housing are holding a public exhibition in Liskeard at the Long Room in the Public Hall, on Thursday, April 10, from 10am-6pm.

The proposal is to provide an authorised and managed gypsy and traveller site at South Treviddo, near Liskeard, just off the A38 on the junction with the Looe road.

The site is already well known to the travelling community, who have controversially parked on the tenanted council-owned farm without permission, usually during February and March, over the last few years.

Although the site is in Menheniot parish, the local council asked that the consultation be held in Liskeard as the proposed travellers' site would impact on both areas. 'It made sense to have the meeting in a central spot to allow more people to attend,' said parish clerk Denise Whitehair.

Local parish and Cornwall councillors have already been spoken to informally and those who live in the immediate vicinity of the site have received letters about the proposal.

'We now want to get the views of those who live in and around the area,' said Jane Barlow, managing director of Cornwall Housing.

The county council says the transit will be robustly managed and will provide temporary accommodation with basic facilities, such as toilets and a water supply, for up to 15 gypsy and traveller families as they travel across Cornwall.

The longest amount of time families will stay on the site is three months.

Cabinet Member for Homes and Communities Geoff Brown said: 'Cornwall Council is committed to ensuring that members of the travelling communities have the same rights and responsibllities as every other person. Properly managed sites will benefit gypsies and travellers and the local settled community alike. They will reduce the number of unauthorised encampments that sometimes cause problems and increase the potential risk of tensions between gypsies and travellers and the local population.

'There is an urgent need for a managed transit site and this piece of council-owned land is available and suitable because of its accessibility and location for a short-stay transit site.'

Cornwall Council has a statutory responsibility to provide sites and Cornwall Housing has been given ring-fenced funding by the Homes and Communities Agency for this purpose. In addition to the public consultation, any proposal will be subject to the full planning process.