Guildford Borough Council considers more traveller sites

Whilst the national attention is on Dale Farm as travellers are being evicted, Guildford Borough Council is considering providing more pitches for travellers and gypsies.

They are looking at three in particular: an extension to the existing Ash Bridge site near Ash, Stonebridge Depot near Shalford and at Home Farm in Effingham. All of these sites are council-owned.

Leader of the council Tony Rooth says that the borough urgently needs more pitches as, because of the lack of them, planning inspectors have given temporary planning permission for pitches on green belt land.

"This means we have little control over the location of new sites, which could be unsuitable and strain local community relationships," said Rooth.

"We want to address this issue properly, in a planned way and listen to everyone's views across the whole community."

They are planning to carry out technical assessments on the aforementioned sites before considering a planning application if deemed successful. Other sites are also being pursued.

What do you think? Should the council be looking into providing travellers and gypsies with more plots of land or do you think they're being too lenient? Leave a comment with your thoughts below. Any offensive/inflammatory comments will be removed.