A site which has had thousands of pounds of public money spent on it to stop unauthorised encampments could be converted into a traveller site.

Brighton and Hove City Council is considering converting Hangleton Bottom into a temporary site while the city’s current transit site is refurbished.

The proposals would see the site off Hangleton Link Road in Hove converted into a 15-pitch site when Horsdean in Patcham closes for up to a year next March to allow work on it to be carried out.

The council has warned that without a transit site during Horsdean’s closure, the number of unauthorised encampments around the city would increase, as would the cost and loss of public parks.

However, councillors have said they will not support the plans and that proposals would cause “ruction” among residents.

The council considered seven other possible sites in the city for the temporary site, including 19 Acres, off Devil’s Dyke Road, 39 Acres, off Ditchling Road, open space at Ladies Mile in Hollingbury, Coldean Woods, Coldean Lane and land by Race Hill allotments in Whitehawk.

Hangleton Bottom was chosen because it is screened from the road by large earth mounds and vegetation, the site is not close to housing, it has access from a lay-by on the road and has a fresh-water supply.

The Horsdean transit, originally built to accommodate 23 pitches, has been operating at a reduced capacity of ten.

South Downs National Park Authority granted permission for 12 permanent pitches at the site earlier in the year and council officers said keeping the transit pitches open during the works was “not viable”.

The council estimated that it would cost £18,000 to set up Hangleton Bottom as a transit site and £120,000 to run it for a year, which is less than the current £185,000 annual cost of Horsdean.

Travellers would be expected to pay rent and service charges on the site for access to water, rubbish facilities, portable toilets and a 24-hour site warden or security guard for up to 12 weeks.

Hangleton Bottom had been deliberately blocked by a very big bund and large concrete blocks in recent years to stop travellers’ trespassing, but this has been replaced in recent weeks by a large gate as the council’s park department relocates a storage unit from Hove Park to the site.

Hangleton and Knoll councillor Dawn Barnett said: “Local residents are going to be up in arms about this and we strongly urge the council to think again.

“They say that they want it for a temporary site while Horsdean is being built but we are in no doubt that this will become a permanent fixture.

“We simply cannot understand why they are not using Hangleton Bottom for good-quality family housing, of which there is a real shortage in the city.

“They have spent a lot of money keeping them off over the years and now this. It’s crazy.”