I wish to make a comment on the approach to dealing with sites for Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople. It is stated in the Draft Local Plan that the interim report on gypsy and traveller pitches does not identify enough land to accommodate the assessed need for pitches. This means that unsuitable sites will continued to be allowed through the process of the travelling community buying cheaper land (e.g. land for agricultural use), occupying it and applying for retrospective planning permission. Due to not having enough pitches for the travelling community, this has resulted in numerous unsuitable sites being authorised. I was surprised that a motion proposed by Cllr John Barnes and Cllr Neil Gordon for the identification of new Council pitches was voted down. This suggests Rother District Council is not too bothered by these unauthorised sites which often ruin the National Landscape (AONB), destroy animal and bird habitats and negatively impact the living amenity of the nearby settled community. I would suggest that Rother District Council needs to approach this problem more robustly instead of just allowing the sites to be determined in this way (this manner of acquiring land for permanent residential use is well documented throughout the UK). By allocating sufficient Council pitches and robustly enforcing planning breaches on existing sites, the Council can minimise the effect on the National Landscape (AONB) and the existing settled community.