I have been working with and for the traveller community for the past three years and would like to explain why so many Travellers end up on high-profile sites such as Preston Park.

Gypsies and other travellers have been living and working widely throughout society for more than 400 years and through and around Sussex for generations. They have always been part of this community. So why are they now being perceived as a problem?

Since the beginning of the last century, more than 90 per cent of the traditional stopping places used by gypsies and travellers has been lost. Local authority responsibility to provide sites was withdrawn by the Tories in 1994 and since then there has been a rapid and steady closure of council sites.

In 1999 alone, 204 pitches, each of which can accommodate up to two families, were lost. Although the authorities have a duty to take matters of common humanity into account before evicting travellers, they have no duty to provide them with anywhere to go.

While the majority of travellers request services such as toilets and refuse collection from councils and offer to pay for these services, they are usually denied. Councils are reluctant to be seen as recognising travellers for fear of offending local communities.

There are probably no more than 150,000 gypsies and travellers in the UK, including those in housing. Instead of demanding police and councils get rid of them (which they cannot and will not do), we should be asking why this small community is denied the most basic and fundamental of human needs - the need for shelter with at least a modicum of security.

-Susan Alexander, National Coordinator Friends, Families and Travellers Advice & Information Unit