Last updated 05:31, Friday, 18 July 2008

NEWS that Cumbria’s only municipal gypsy camp could soon be opened in Carlisle, just a few miles north of the city, is bound to raise more than a few eyebrows.

City councillors are keen to go ahead speedily with plans to create a new site for gypsies and travellers at Ghyll Bank, Harker, opening next summer for use by 15 caravans, each with its own toilet block and car parking space.

Complete with children’s play area, secure barrier entrance, street lights, communal room, permanent manager and site office, it will be the first of its kind in the county.

Having bitten the bullet of rising to meet necessary legal obligation, councillors are bracing themselves for some lively public debate. Travellers’ camps, wherever they are proposed, traditionally give rise to local concern – some of it justified, much of it not. And of course local views on positioning must be heard and addressed.

But noncommittal discussion about whether or not a permanent municipal site should be provided – which has rumbled on in Cumbria for years and got nowhere – is no longer on the agenda.

The fact of the here and now is that an ostrich approach to accommodating travelling people is no longer possible for local authorities nor the communities they serve. It can’t be argued there’s no need for provision, no pressure or demand, no public consensus to host caravan dwellers – and there’s certainly no room for judgement on lifestyle. Unsatisfactory days of moving travellers on to become somebody else’s accommodation problem have gone.

Carlisle council has grasped the nettle in pledging a £100,000 contribution to the camp’s cost in order to secure government funding for the remainder.

The question of whether it should have done so is not applicable – there’s no legal alternative. What matters now is that public consultation should be constructive, positive and fruitful in securing the best possible outcomes for all concerned.