A NATIONAL gipsy leader claims his organisation should be allowed to take over Bolton's official gipsy caravan site. As reported in the BEN, residents on the Hall Lane site have demanded a tough crackdown to get rid of troublemakers bringing fear and misery to the site.

Last week there was a mass exodus of gipsy families following a series of complaints about vandalism, violence, crime, rubbish dumping and other problems on the site.

Now, the president of the National Gipsy Council, Hughie Smith, has made a public appeal urging councillors to meet him to review how the site should be run.

Mr Smith said: "We have been writing to Bolton Council for the last four or five years . . . telling them about the problems and also urging them to work with us.

"But they seem to think everything is all right and tell us they don't need to change anything." The National Gipsy Council runs a number of caravan sites around the country, with managers on site 24 hours a day and tough action taken against anyone who breaks the rules.

Mr Smith added: "We have seen local authority-run sites shut down because they haven't kept control of the unruly elements.

"We fear that could happen in Bolton if things aren't sorted out."

But council housing bosses have rejected the call and claim the site is already satisfactorily managed.

Vice-chairman of housing, Councillor Linda Thomas, said: "The problem at the site has now been resolved.

"CCTV cameras are now being installed to improve security."

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