Concerns raised over proposed cuts to traveller services at consultation meeting (From Haringey Independent)

Concerns raised over traveller services in Haringey at consultation meeting

9:38am Tuesday 31st July 2012 in News By Bruce Thain

Members of the travelling community met with councillor officers yesterday to discuss proposed changes to the traveller services.

Funding for the Haringey Travellers Service Team is to be cut by the council and members of the community met with officers at Wood Green Library to discuss the plans and what changes can be made to the service.

The team of two social workers deals with the Irish travellers, gypsies and Roma gypsies and helps those communities get access to other services such as health and education, and also manages traveller sites in the borough.

However concerns have been raised about the proposed cuts and members of the travelling community fear the service will be cut all together.

Traveller Bridgett McCarthy, who has live on Haringey for 15 years said: “The service is so important to all the travellers in Haringey.

“The team there are some of the only people the community will trust to help us. If we have any problem we go to them and they will help us.

“We’ve been working with them for 20 years and if it was to go it would be lost and the travelling community would go underground.”

Yvonne MacNamara from the Irish Travellers movement said: “If this service was to go then the travelling community would be cast adrift and isolated in Haringey.

“The resource they have here is one of the most highly respected teams in the country and I don’t think they know what they will be losing.”

It was announced at the meeting that there would be an extension to the consultation period over the changes service and council officers said they wanted to see how they could develop the service to get better value for money.