Spa town may provide Gypsy sites

Cheltenham Borough Council has been told it may have to provide nearly 40 new pitches for Gypsies and travellers.

Currently none of Gloucestershire's four county-run sites are in the spa town area.

Traveller provision is being reviewed under the Regional Spatial Strategy, which is looking at future development in the south-west of England.

The review said 27 new residential pitches and 10 transit pitches may have to be found in Cheltenham.

Overcrowded site

Gloucestershire County Council's traveller services officer Paul Kenyon said the authority had a "substantial waiting list" for pitches.

"I have a significant number of people coming to me asking for pitches and, indeed, asking planning advice for buying new bits of land for new sites and family sites," he said.

One traveller, who has lived on the Sandhurst traveller site near Gloucester for 23 years, told the BBC the site had become severely overcrowded and some members of her family had had to move into houses.

Consultation over the draft proposals ends on 24 October.