Further to recent articles regarding travellers, I feel that Brighton and Hove City Council appears to have been totally incompetent in dealing with the issue of illegal encampments of travellers over the years.

It is a problem that occurs year after year, costing millions of pounds in public funds and disrupting local communities, yet the council seems oblivious to the need for proactive measures to ensure these same sites broken into every year are safely secured. The usual excuses when approached are that there are no funds available or that whatever measures are taken will be ineffective.

It is only residents’ lobbying which has resulted in three sites alone – Ladies Mile Road nature reserve, Carden Park and Withdean Park – being secured for less than the cost of eviction procedures and clearing rubbish once the site is vacated. This saves thousands of pounds and does not disrupt the settled community, thus proving the council wrong.

Eric Pickles has recently stated that there is now a need for local authorities to clamp down on illegal traveller encampments.

Let’s hope our council takes heed and calls a halt to this very disruptive and expensive annual merry-go-round.

Ben Benterman, Ladies Mile Road, Brighton