Traveller sites consultation 2019
| Purpose | Lancashire County Council, like many councils across the country, is going through financially challenging times. This is as a result of funding not keeping pace with the increasing demand and cost of services being delivered. We need to continue to look at ways of reducing costs to help balance the books for future years. This means that we have to consider changes to some of the services we currently provide, as we do not have the resources to continue to deliver what we have done in the past. These changes were considered by our county councillors and we are now looking to consult on what impact the proposals may have. We really welcome your views. This consultation is about Lancashire County Council's Traveller sites. We do not have a legal duty to provide Traveller sites but have chosen to provide sites and currently own: Altham near Accrington, Mellishaw Park in Morecambe and Leighton Street in Preston. The residents, mainly families, pay rent for pitches with fixed caravans. At present there are 15 pitches at Altham, 19 pitches at Mellishaw Park and 14 pitches at Leighton Street. The day-to-day running of the sites is presently undertaken by the relevant district councils. It is projected that for 2019/20 this will cost the county council approximately £131,000. We are considering whether to continue to retain ownership of these sites. We do not have an alternative use for the sites and are now giving consideration to whether we should keep the sites or to sell them. If the decision is to sell the sites then the council would apply a condition to protect the sites for Travellers. If the decision is to retain the sites then the council will consider how this can be achieved more cost effectively. The consultation will inform this option when reaching a final decision. As the district councils manage day-to-day operations - and as part of the consultation process - we have begun discussions and will keep in contact with them. |
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| Subject |
Other topic |
| Commissioned by | Business Intelligence |
| Geographic area |
All of Lancashire |
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| Method |
Questionnaire - online Questionnaire - postal |
| Consultation with |
Gypsies and travellers Service users Special interest group |
| Date | 07/05/2019 - 03/07/2019 |
| Undertaken by | Business Intelligence |