City Council bid gets go ahead from Government

(Date of issue: Thursday 18 December 2008)

A £1.96million Carlisle City Council funding bid to provide a new local authority managed Gypsy and Traveller site has been given the go ahead by the Government today (Thursday 18 December 2008).

The City Council was the only council in Cumbria to submit a bid for a Communities and Local Government’s Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant and is one of only two authorities to achieve the funding in the North West; £2million of Gypsy and Traveller Sites Grant has been allocated, the majority going to Carlisle City Council.

Cllr Olwyn Luckley, Portfolio Holder for Health and Communities, said:

"There is an identified unmet need for a new site within Carlisle that we must address and the Government bidding process provided an opportunity to attract funding into the area to provide a quality site built to Government design standards that will be managed well.

"We believe that all our communities, including the Gypsy and Traveller community, should have access to good quality housing and accommodation, health care and education. Our proposals for a new site aim to meet these needs."

The site would be located at Ghyll Bank, in the north east of the city. The grant will be used to include an area for 15 pitches designed to current guidelines and each pitch will have an amenity block, adequate space for parking and space for caravan accommodation.

Within the new site layout, there will also be a children’s play area, a secure barrier entrance, street lighting and a communal room for residents. As well as these new facilities, a manager and site office will be located on the site.

Planning permission was granted on 14 November and this will allow any of the physical improvement works to be put in place. There are still some issues, which need to be resolved before the scheme is put in place. The purchase of the land from the current owner, by the City Council, needs to be finalised and the building work will need to be tendered out to potential builders.

If all of these issues are resolved, work on site could start summer 2009 and the site could open in early 2010.

In the meantime, local communities and other interested parties will be kept informed of progress and the City Council will seek their views on issues that affect them directly, such as the future management of the site.

Carlisle City Council took the decision to submit a bid at its Full Council meeting on Tuesday, 15 July and the bid was submitted to meet the Government’s Thursday, 31 July 2008 deadline.