A TRAVELLERS’ group has blasted Sussex councils for failing to provide caravan sites to stay on.

A report from Friends, Families and Travellers declared a “chronic shortage” of traveller sites in county.

It blamed the appearance of unauthorised camps on a lack of sites and blasted councils for not drawing up plans to create more Traveller areas.

“It beggars belief that the Home Office are calling for more powers to tell Travellers where they can’t go while local authorities are largely failing to identify any space where Travellers can go,” policy manager Abbie Kirkby said.

“Gypsies and Travellers have a cultural tradition of living in caravans and the right to roam.

“But it’s hard to travel when there’s nowhere to stop.”

The Friends, Families and Travellers’ report claimed some Travellers are becoming “chronically excluded” because they have nowhere to settle.

The group said there was a “lack of will” among councils to create camps.

Brighton and Hove City Council does not plan to provide more Traveller sites despite a 50-caravan encampment occupying Hove Lawns last year.

The city council only has one site for travellers in St Michael’s Way next to the A27. All 12 of its permanent pitches are occupied.

Lewes District Council is the only Sussex authority which plans to introduce more sites.

Meanwhile Worthing, Mid Sussex, and Crawley councils all claimed they did not need to provide more camps.

“This research clearly highlights the mechanism to ensure more sites for Gypsies and Travellers are provided in the immediate future is not working,” the Friends, Families and Travellers report read.

“In the meanwhile Gypsies and Travellers continue to be evicted from one place to the next.

“These chronically excluded communities become even more vulnerable as a result of the constant cycle of evictions.”

The report estimates camps for more than 1,300 caravans will be needed in the South East in the next five years.

But it claimed public attitudes towards Travellers made it difficult for councillors to speak out in favour of building sites.

“An Equality and Human Rights Commission survey found 44 per cent of the British public openly expressed negative feelings towards travellers,” the report read.

“This can make it challenging for elected officials who are in favour of building sites, to get or stay elected.”

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said it was unable to find any suitable sites for Travellers to use.

“We found that no additional pitches are required within the council’s planning area,” he said.

“But 11 additional pitches are needed in the part of the city that for planning purposes falls within the South Downs National Park.

“The council has a 21-pitch transit site for Traveller households passing through the city.

“Since it opened in 2016, the number of unauthorised encampments in the city have fallen year on year.”