THE leader of Cumbria’s top tier authority has blasted Allerdale council for failing in its legal duty to create camp sites for travellers.

The district council has identified a need for 20 gypsy and traveller pitches in the borough in its latest draft planning policy but is yet to create a single one  in the 480sq mile area of the borough.

Under Government planning policy, local authorities are expected to help “address under-provision and maintain an appropriate level of supply”, as well as developing “fair and effective strategies to meet need through the identification of land for sites.”

Speaking at a county cabinet meeting, Coun Stewart Young said: “They have a duty to provide a site and they haven’t done that. The consequences of that is that it is very difficult to move people on if they choose to camp on the highway – or anywhere else – because you can’t refer them to another site. I don’t know how Allerdale have got away with this for so long. It is unacceptable – they haven’t done what they are required to do by law.”

He made the comments at a county cabinet meeting in response to the district Allerdale’s draft blueprint for housing and infrastructure – the Local Plan (Part 2).

Allerdale council identified the area currently used as the Northside Speedway Training Facility in Workngton as a suitable site.

 But Celia Tibble, cabinet member for environment and Allerdale councillor, said she understood three places had been identified as possible traveller sites, adding: “But I haven’t been told that officially.”

“It has been on the agenda several times but no decision has been reached,” she said.

The draft plan, which will be used to inform planning decisions over the next decade, states that the borough has a need for 10 permanent gypsy and traveller pitches which have not yet been provided. It adds that there will also be a need for 10 transit pitches by 2028/29.

Also included in the draft local plan are proposed sites for 1,276 new homes, on top of those new developments already given planning permission.

Work to develop part two of the plan began in November 2013 when the public was asked to put forward sites they considered suitable for development or in need of protection.

Following consultation, the final draft of the local plan will be sent to the Planning Inspectorate for approval.

Commenting more generally on Allerdale’s draft local plan process for Allerdale, Coun Young was also critical.

He said:  “We do work with the other five councils but it’s not working quite as well with Allerdale. We have sent a statement of intent for them to work with us, and we need to remind them of that.”

Coun Tibble said: “I whole-heartedly agree and it is something we are very aware of. It is very difficult for our officers to agree some of these development sites knowing the pressure [they can brings to bear] on infrastructure.”