THE legal requirement placed on all councils in the UK, means it is their responsibility to provide permanent transit sites for gypsies and travellers.

So, given the history of increasing numbers of unauthorised encampments on land not owned by gypsies and travellers, being some 20 per cent or thereabouts, it makes sense to get legal transit sites up and running, in suitable localities, as soon as possible. This will give councils the authority to act swiftly and within the law.

The January count of 2012 indicated that 85 per cent of all caravans in England were on authorised land, whereas the remaining 15 per cent were on unauthorised land.

It is this 15 per cent that needs to be addressed, thus, by building at least one transit site in Cheshire East, (for example), illegal camping can be nipped in the bud, allowing speedy removal of caravans within a 24 hour period, pointing them in the direction of the transit site, where a warden will be present on a daily basis, ensuring all occupants sign up to a licence agreement, setting out terms and conditions for taking a pitch and all adults having to show ID and paying a licence fee.

The warden will also ensure that the terms of agreement are adhered to and the site is kept clean, tidy. All pitches will be residential only and business activities will not be allowed.

So, by keeping the site in local authority ownership (under the criminal justice and public order act, 1994), police powers can be enforced immediately.

Then, if the gypsies, or travellers do not leave when directed to do so, under section 62A, they are committing an offence.

I have been informed that Halton Council’s unauthorised encampment numbers have greatly reduced since its introduction of their official transit site, which it has had since 2009.

The parish of Pickmere is a good example of what can go wrong when transit sites are none existent. They have been working relentlessly to have an unauthorised encampment moved on for some time now and brings the urgency for an appropriate siting decision within Cheshire East to the fore.

Had there been a transit site in situ at the time, then the residents of Pickmere would have had legal backup and speedy removal by the police.

It is a real shame and I commiserate with them, in the frustration and anxiety that this problem must be having on every one of them.

I read even now, that yet another illegal encampment is now residing in Wilmslow so there is a strong argument for a transit site in Cheshire East to move forward immediately.

Only then will we alleviate further situations like this one, finally bringing all unauthorised sites under control within a day, rather than months or, in Pickmere’s case, years.

Clr Olivia Hunter Knutsford Ward Cheshire East Council