TRAVELLER and Gypsy sites around Salisbury could be set to expand as Wiltshire Council gains £3.4million in government cash to improve provision in the county.

UK councils were invited to bid for a portion of £60million government funds overseen by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to help traveller communities with better facilities and reduce unauthorised sites.

The funding for Wiltshire is ring-fenced to refurbish 40 pitches and to create 20 new pitches on or near to existing sites. The council has six permanent sites and one transit site.

These include 10 pitches at Lode Hill, Downton, 18 at Dairy House Bridge in Salisbury and 12 at Odstock transit site.

Toby Sturgis, the council’s cabinet member for planning, said: “As a council we are committed to providing appropriate sites for Gypsies and travellers and reducing the problem of illegal encampments.

“This funding from the government will help to address these issues and provide our traveller and Gypsy communities with suitable, safe sites on legally approved land.

“It is vital we improve provision in Wiltshire and to have it funded by the government means less pressure on the council’s own budget.”

The council is contributing £250,000 from its earmarked funding for Gypsy and traveller sites to support the project.

It has not yet been decided which sites will receive the extra funding and when the council has drawn up proposals they will go out to public consultation.

Communities minister Andrew Stunell said the money will help hundreds of traveller families find sites and “foster better relations with the existing communities and councils”.

He said: “New authorised sites, with the support of local communities, will be treated on an equal footing as new bricks-and-mortar homes, with councils getting powerful financial benefits for building authorised sites where they are needed.”