MORE than £400,000 is to be spent improving the Holwell Lane travellers' site near Essendon.

The camp, where 29 plots are rented out for travellers to park their caravans, will get an upgraded water supply system and new toilets at a cost of £390,630, as well as a sound insulation wall to protect them from the busy A414 Hertford to Hatfield road.

Hertfordshire County Council, which owns and runs the site, has decided on the improvements after learning its bid for government cash to meet three-quarters of the cost had been successful.

It is also planning smaller scale improvements to travellers' sites near South Mimms and Hemel Hempstead.

Councillor Derek Hill, spokesman for gipsy matters at the county council, said: "The main aim is to create more privacy for the people who live on these sites, generally improve their quality of life and ultimately create more stability for these communities."

Work is set to begin in the summer and due to be completed by Christmas.

Welwyn Hatfield Council's executive member for the environment Mandy Perkins said: "It's great news that the county council has been successful with this bid.

"I support any measures to improve conditions on these sites and in particular any measures which help to tackle social deprivation."

Over the past two years, the council's gipsy section has managed to secure almost £600,000 of government funding to improve conditions on the county's travellers' sites

The funding, £16 million across the country, has been welcomed by the Local Government Association (LGA), which is calling for an extra 900 to 2,000 residential travellers' pitches to be found by 2007.

The LGA is also pushing for local authorities to be given legal responsibility to make adequate provision for travellers' sites in their areas.

April 2, 2003 13:00