A CALL for suggested sites for gypsies, travellers and travelling showpeople has been made by Lancaster City Council.

People have until Friday (June 22) at 5pm to put forward potential locations for temporary encampments and stopping-off places, and permanent residential pitches.

The council says the Lancaster district "has a history of being a popular location for travellers to make their home" and the call for sites is designed to help meet their accommodation needs in the next five years.

There are around 112 gypsy or traveller households in the district, according to a study completed in 2017.

Suggested locations will be "rigorously assessed" says the council, with consultation to take place later this year, and adoption likely in late 2019.

To find out how to suggest a site, visit www.lancaster.gov.uk

Meanwhile, the CLA, which represents 30,000 rural landowners and businesses in England and Wales, says it is time for a "new approach to tackle failing laws on gypsy and traveller camps".

Members are calling for a new offence of criminal trespass for those who enter and occupy private land for residential purposes without consent.

The CLA has told a government review tackling illegal gypsy and traveller sites that the law should be changed to make it an offence to set up unauthorised residential developments and encampments in the countryside.

The CLA's director of policy and advice, Christopher Price, said: “Illegal encampments in rural areas have a detrimental economic, environmental and social impact on local businesses and communities as well as to the private landowner. The current law is failing and it is time for a new approach."

He added that local councils must provide "sufficient permanent or temporary residential sites" for gypsies and travellers to avoid the problems arising from unauthorised encampments.

In the wake of the recent Appleby Horse Fair, Cumbria's police and crime commissioner Peter McCall told the Gazette he would "do away with the fair" if he could.

He cited problems during the period when travellers were making their way to the fair, with people arriving earlier and having to wait elsewhere until they could get onto Fair Hill.

Mr MrCall said there were reports of anti-social behaviour along the route from the south, through Kirkby Lonsdale, Sedbergh and Kirkby Stephen.

Some residents of Kirkby Stephen claimed their town and surroundings had been turned into an unofficial horse fair, with encampments spreading all the way to Brough.