Preferred Options Consultation - Land at Stratford Road, Warwick

I am writing to you for the Gypsy / Traveller family's that were cleared from the Kites Nest Lane site in your district following a Secretary of States decision and the Council pursuing a prosecution through the Courts. These family's are homeless. They have strong links with the district.

The family's wish to live in the Warwick District. They are unable to complete restoration of the Kites Nest Lane site due to lack of a settled base. They are unable to identify alternative affordable land on which they can live.

The family's are in desperate need of accommodation. If the Council should be making the site at Stratford North available they would wish to have the opportunity to live on this land, and enter into negotiations with the Council. The land designated for industrial use should possibly be changed to enable the Council to facilitate this rather than the land being identified as for use as a Gypsy Site in its consultation being in private ownership.

If the Council should have no intention of making provision for Gypsy / Travellers in the district it needs to identify this unambiguously so that the Kites Nest Lane site can be reopened to meet need. The site might not be ideal. However, currently it is all that is available.

There needs to be a fair resolution to the problem caused by there being a lack of accommodation for the Gypsy / Traveller community. The family's and myself are willing to meet with the Council to seek a resolution to the problems