PROPOSALS to provide a temporary toilet for travellers living in a lay-by on the A19 south of Thirsk have angered local residents.

Mr Peter Swales, of Mile House Farm, says he and other residents were amazed to hear that the travellers were to be provided with the facility, when there was a purpose-built caravan site for them less than a mile away. He said: "I don't think it's on if there are vacant pitches on the gipsy site. Someone will have to be employed to empty this temporary toilet and as a tax payer I think it's wrong. Surely it will just encourage them to stay there.''

In a letter to Mr Swales from Mr Richard Shuttleworth, technical officer at Hambleton District Council, he said that the council had received a number of complaints.

Mr Shuttleworth said the site was the responsibility of the Highways Agency, and because of this, the district council had no authority to instigate proceedings to move the travellers.

He said: "In an attempt to remove the problems caused by the residents of the encampment defecating behind the hedgerow, Hambleton has requested that the Highways Agency consider providing a toilet unit at the site, until such time as the encampment moves on."

Mr Shuttleworth added that despite the willingness of those living in the layby to move to the official North Yorkshire County Council site in Thirsk, where he said there were vacancies, the site manager had refused them permission.

But Mr Jim Miller, who manages the Bankside Close travellers' site for the county council, said that this was not the case: "I have refused them permission, but only because we are full."

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said that its main concern was safety on the A19, and as the travellers' vehicles were set back from the road they were not causing a hazard.