WHEN travellers and gipsies set up camp, they are often confronted by the local council and police who seek to move them on.

But all are agreed on one thing - there are not enough sites for members of the travelling community.

Now a new group fronted by a Winsford man is aiming to change all that.

In 1994, the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act removed the duty on councils to provide sites. Now, the 12 in Cheshire are all privately owned.

Joe Hurn, a settled gipsy living in Winsford and chairman of the new Cheshire Gipsy and Traveller Voice campaign group, said: 'The private sites we have are fully subscribed and another problem is people's lack of rights as a tenant.

'They don't have a legal leg to stand on and not everyone can afford to pay for them because a

lot do not accept people on benefits.'

Mr Hurn, who still travels for around three months each year, pointed to a shortage of temporary transit sites for people passing through an area on their way to the likes of weddings or funerals.

'A lot of traditional stopping places have been built upon, Cheshire Oaks is an example,' he said. 'Do you think gipsies and travellers really want to be at places like industrial estates with no services? It's horrendous and I don't think it would happen if there was an option.'

In recent months, caravans have set up at Pochin Way in Middlewich and various other sites across Mid Cheshire. But last year's Housing Act demanded that local authorities should include travellers and gipsies in their housing needs assessments - effectively obliging them to make provision where private sites are insufficient.

Dawn Taylor, the county's new

gipsy and traveller co-ordinator, said: 'The Government says there's now a need for 4,000 more pitches across the country.

'The new Act means that if a need for accommodation is identified and a council has not done anything about it, a judge may look more favourably on an unauthorised development.

'In Cheshire, the feeling is we would like to get a registered social landlord like a housing trust to run sites. You can then claim rent, manage behaviour more easily and get services to people.'

Funding for Cheshire Gipsy and Traveller Voice was provided through the Government's Change Up initiative, which aids voluntary organisations, and it was launched a fortnight ago.

The group, which already has 26 volunteers from the gipsy and traveller communities dealing with different issues, operates through a hotline number, and works with the likes of police, the local education authority and landlords to resolve difficulties.

Bid to employ liaison officer

A BID is being made for a gipsy and traveller liaison officer in Middlewich.

After discussions with the town's multi-agency Gypsy and Traveller Working Group, the Middlewich Vision is drafting a bid - probably to the National Lottery's Big Lottery Fund - for £60,000 to cover the appointment for the next three years.

Middlewich Vision co-ordinator Stephen Dent said: 'The officer will be working on behalf of the Gypsy and Traveller

Working Group, working directly with any travellers who stop in Middlewich to represent the group and help it to provide the services it needs.

'We have agreed that this is something we need, and we have provisionally booked office space at Microchips in Wheelock Street, so if we get the money we need then we'll be able to advertise the role at once.'

The Middlewich Gypsy and Travellers Working Group is made up of 13 agencies, including police, the

education authority, the Council for Racial Equality and the Central Cheshire Primary Care Trust, which provide services to travellers in the town.

Mr Dent said: 'Basically, the officer's role will be to meet travellers who stop at Middlewich and assess their needs.

'We think this will be an important and useful post, as it will hopefully reduce some of the tension that has built between travellers and the settled community in Middlewich.'