4:00pm Wednesday 17th March 2010
I was dismayed to read the article “Traveller problem will not go away” (The Argus, March 11). This contentious piece reinforced and perpetuated fear and hatred towards Travellers and gypsies.
Why do the city’s domiciled residents always vent their anger on the travellers and not the failing local authority whose legal obligation it is to provide appropriate accommodation for them?
There is one traveller site, as mentioned in your article, which has had vast amounts spent on its refurbishments over the previous few years.
While staying there travellers pay all utility bills, including council tax. In their wisdom the local authority has shut the site for refurbishment in the coldest months of the year for two years running.
Where are the residents supposed to go? Maybe the warm,well-fed city councillors could put them up while their home remains closed.
There is money earmarked for a second site but the local authority will not grant planning permission, forcing all travellers to stay at the one site the same authority renders uninhabitable due to refurbishment. Travellers just want somewhere they can legally stop without being continually evicted, bullied and hounded.
Jim Ball, Princes Road, Brighton
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