THIRTY new pitches for gipsies and travellers are to be set up throughout Cornwall.

Work will now begin with MPs, town and parish councils and the gipsy and traveller communities to identify areas for new sites. 

Existing local authority sites at Pensilva near Liskeard, Redruth and Camborne, are fully occupied and there is a need for smaller, family-sized residential sites.

Funding of £1.24m has been allocated to Carrick Housing from the Government's Homes and Communities Agency.

Cornwall Council, like other authorities, has a duty to provide suitable sites for gipsy and traveller communities. Until now the county has had a history of unauthorised encampments and a lack of regulated alternative sites to move people on to.

Cornwall Council's cabinet member for housing and planning Mark Kaczmarek said: 'Members of the travelling community have the same rights, including fair access to education for their children and health services, and responsibilities as every other person.

'We want to find small sites of between five and ten pitches, and probably on council-owned land, which can link into the existing infrastructure. New sites will be properly managed which will benefit gipsies and travellers and the local settled community alike.

'There is no doubt that unauthorised sites can, on occasion, cause problems and increase the potential risk of tensions between gipsies and travellers and the local population.

Concern

'Unauthorised sites also raise concern among many people that some in the gipsy and traveller population do not abide by the planning system.

'Cornwall Council wants to recognise and protect the traditional way of life of the travelling communities while respecting the interests of the settled community.

'More authorised sites will reduce the number of unauthorised encampments and developments and the conflict and controversy they can sometimes cause.'

An assessment undertaken by the previous seven district councils indicated there was a need to provide an extra 147 residential pitches and 33-45 transit pitches for gipsies and travellers by 2011. But between 2006 and April 2011 only approximately 60 residential pitches were granted planning permission in the county, leaving a big deficit.