Travellers have been a problem for people in Sussex for as long as anyone can remember, but Brighton and Hove Council has taken the step of providing an official site for them.

At site has been set aside just for travellers at Horsdean, just north of the A27 near the Hollingbury industrial estate.

Controversial at the time, the site was designed for 23 families and set up last spring, costing £110,000.

Currently, a group of 25 New Age traveller families are living there.

Vanessa is 42 and has four children. She has strong views on travellers and said the word was seen as a "derogatory term" such as "niggers".

She has been at Horsdean for the last seven months.

She said: "I hate it. I hate the embankments, I hate being ruled by the council, I hate not being able to park properly. I like free sites.

"What I want is to take a piece of land which has no function to man nor beast and be allowed to have six months without being hassled by police nor farmers.

Win has been living on the site for 11 months.

He said: "I haven't been experiencing any problems during the summer. We are allowed to stay here and we don't get any grief."