The number of gipsy and traveller pitches will need to more than double in the next eight years, a new report has revealed.

Up to 260 new plots must be created in Sussex to provide permanent sites for the travelling community.

For the first time, the housing needs of gipsies and travellers are being included in the planning blueprint for the South East.

The South East England Regional Assembly (Seera), which is piecing together the plan, will consult the public on four options.

The Argus can reveal a maximum of 77 pitches will be required for East Sussex and 201 in West Sussex. There are currently 26 permanent pitches in East Sussex and 93 in West Sussex.

In Brighton and Hove there is one authorised transit site in Horsdean which has 23 pitches. The city will need to find space for as many as 20 new pitches.

Chichester is being asked to find the most space - 65 plots - followed by Horsham with 59.

No locations have been identified and the selection of sites is likely to prove controversial.

Catriona Riddell, director of planning at Seera, said: "This will mean councils will not have to spend a lot of money on unauthorised sites.

"And with authorised sites, gipsies and travellers can get access to health and education because they are settled.

"The Government has made it clear - if local authorities do not do it they will make sure it happens.

A report, released last year and commissioned by East Sussex County Council and Brighton and Hove City Council, revealed the plight of gipsy and traveller families in the county. According to 120 face-to-face interviews, three quarters of households do not have access to their own water supply and half do not have their own toilet.

One in five families had school-age children not in education.

The four options, based on complicated formulas, will be put to a final vote in March and go out to consultation in May.

Across the South East, 1,347 additional pitches will be created by 2016, excluding provision for travelling showmen and for transit purposes.

A report to Seera's planning committee revealed: "About two-thirds of this requirement arises in the first five-year period, a significant component of which is a backlog of unmet need.

"This requirement approximately doubles the existing number of authorised pitches."