I've just heard on the local radio this Sunday morning a Worcestershire clergyman criticise Wychavon for not making more effort to solve the caravan siting problem of the travellers who arrived en bloc in Eckington nearly a year ago.

I don't think it morally right that our District Council should have the guilt heaped on its shoulders for apparently not being gipsy-friendly.

To my mind the District of Wychavon has an excellent record:we have a major site at Smite;another one at Hipton Hill; yet another has been built at Pinvin while there's a smaller one at Hinton on the Green.That's besides the private sites (which have gone through the proper planning process) such as the excellent one next door to me and the various long-term "Tolerated Sites" scattered around the district. Besides all these, Cleeve Prior, of course, has what is a virtual traveller village on its outskirts. What more can one District Council do to solve a nation-wide problem?

For a comparison ask yourself what have our neighbour District Councils done. How many official Council run sites are there in Malvern Hills, for example, or Stratford District compared to Wychavon? I can't think of one.

As I understand it the Eckington gipsies- from whatever motive- moved here from outside our district. If Wychavon don't follow the proper planning process this time,what will happen the next time when the another group of ten or so caravans decide that South Worcs is a nice place to settle and move on to a field in another rural parish? We wouldn't have a legal leg to stand on.

Jim Griffiths, Hampton, Worcestershire.