At last, common sense is prevailing as Dorset’s local authorities band together to find appropriate sites for travellers (Daily Echo, August 3).

This approach has been so obvious for so long, and was provided for in my Travellers Law Reform Bill, which the House of Commons allowed me to introduce in 2002, and again in 2003, following our worst ever illegal occupation of Kings Park over Christmas and New Year 2001-2, which cost our town £50,000 to clean up and our county £40,000 for the police operation, in addition to the anti-social behaviour and rise in crime that was so widely complained about.

While I accept that the present government, which has failed to grasp the opportunity of my bill (so painstakingly formulated by the Law School of Cardiff University) continues to impose a responsibility on every council to provide a transit site, I have no doubt that the next Conservative government will endorse this Dorset approach and allow every local authority those legal powers that are currently denied them to be able to promptly remove illegal sites if they have been unable to provide a legal site of their own as in Bournemouth’s case.

However, I question why it is necessary to spend £250,000 to hire outside consultants when the planning officers we employ are surely experienced enough to come together as a team to do the job. Please, council leaders, think again on this one!

And I urge all concerned to consult, not only with the police, but also with the Gypsy and Travellers Council, on suitable sites, as I did when drafting my bill.

David Atkinson, Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East 1977-2005, Brecon Close, Bournemouth