It is not travellers ruining Moulsecoomb Wild Park, it is council neglect.

A century ago, Moulsecoomb Wild Park was famous for its many rare butterflies and moths.

Half a century of neglect, however, has reduced its ancient speciesrich grasslands to tiny fragments, which are disappearing under a sea of scrub. The special moths and butterflies of its old pastures are on the brink of extinction.

It is now the most damaged of all Brighton's nature reserves and its core wildlife is at death's door.

Compared to this, the problems of the travellers' encampment are small and manageable.

It is sad the children's activity day had to be postponed and I, too, regret the landscaping and other waste left there.

However, on several visits to the site, my general impression was the travellers were tidy and organised. The people I met were courteous and their children friendly. In no way is it accurate to say the nature reserve was "left trashed".

Given the camp was the base for the travellers' economic activities as well as their day-to-day living tasks, and given Brighton and Hove City Council provided them with almost none of the infrastructure which would exist on a purpose-made and managed travellers' site, their impact was very small indeed.

The council owns most of the farmland surrounding it and much of this is no longer used for high productivity farming.

It should spend its money on the 50-year backlog of neglect of Wild Park and provide properly-serviced encampments for travellers rather than endlessly moving them on.

It is the council's failure to address both travellers' and open space users' real needs which is the true waste scandal.

  • Dave Bangs (Friends of Whitehawk Hill and Sussex Travellers Action Group) Ewhurst Road, Brighton