CIVIC leaders in Winchester meet today to express concern at the government's new proposals for dealing with gypsy and traveller communities.

The plans, announced by Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott earlier this year, have been sent to local authorities and demand that more must be done to provide official gypsy and traveller sites.

Bosses at Winchester City Council are warning that the directives could have serious repercussions.

In a report to be presented to the council's Cabinet, the authors criticise Mr Prescott's stance as "inflexible and cumbersome" and warn that it will also have serious financial implications for the cash-strapped council.

They also advise that carrying out the new directives is likely to cause deep unrest throughout the community, particularly in relation to planning applications.

The directives outline the responsibilities of local authorities when dealing with travellers. They include:

ensuring there is sufficient provision of gypsy and traveller sites;

changing the definition of gypsy to include people who have stopped travelling;

requiring local authorities to identify in their local plans suitable sites for gypsies and travellers;

advising how local authorities can better engage with these communities.

The report to the Cabinet says that applying these directives, particularly the requirement on councils to provide dedicated gypsy sites, will be complex because it will probably mean providing a number of small sites.

The report adds: "This could prove to be a costly and time-consuming process, which has the potential to create tension among all the communities involved."

Further concern is expressed over a part of the directive that talks about naming sites only if they are in council control or are realistically available.

This, the report warns, "is intended to support the promotion of sites which are privately owned by gypsies and travellers", meaning current illegal sites could be made legal in order to meet the directives.

Further worry is expressed over the parts of the directives relating to sites in rural areas.

The report says: "Overall the new guidance for rural areas further reflects the government's more positive approach to accommodating gypsy and traveller sites.

"However, in doing so it is made more difficult for local authorities to resist applications in open rural areas and strategic and local gaps which should, in the main, be protected from unnecessary and inappropriate development."

Members of the council Cabinet will now have to decide whether to follow the recommendations contained in the report, which includes advising Mr Prescott that the directives are "an inflexible and cumbersome method of dealing with the issue".