A council has agreed to adopt a traveller site from the county council.
At a full council meeting on February 24 it was unanimously agreed that Preston City Council would adopt the Leighton Street Traveller site from Lancashire County Council.
The community at the site in Preston have been living there for more than 30 years and it is one of three sites across the county for the traveller community established by Lancashire County Council in the late 1980s, and the families are well integrated into the local area with their children attending local schools.
A recent decision by Lancashire County Council to dispose of the three sites raised significant concern in the community.
It was feared that this decision might lead to the sale of the Preston site, higher rents and eventually the residents being forced from their homes.
However, as an alternative to selling, Lancashire County Council offer the site and responsibility to Preston City Council.
With help from a local support group and from Preston's Co-operative Development Network, community representatives proposed that if the city council adopted the site, the newly established Leighton Street Cooperative, would take on the day-to-day management and operation and all residents at the site would be invited to join the cooperative.
Leader of Preston City Council, Councillor Matthew Brown, said: "The Leighton Street community's proposal was very well received by the city council.
"A key part of our commitment to community wealth building is to encourage greater democratic ownership and management of local assets.
"Co-operatives - business enterprises owned by their members - can play a key role in this.
"The readiness of the community at Leighton Street to establish their own cooperative to run the site provided a very good fit with the Council's own approach and long-term principles.
"Discussions are now underway between the city council and the Leighton Street Co-operative on the necessary arrangements for the management and operation of the site once the formal transfer is complete.
"We will also be providing some support to establish the cooperative as a legal entity and provide training to its members in key areas of responsibility."
John Gavin, Leighton Street site manager, added: "Thank you to Preston City Council for adopting the Leighton Street site, we appreciate all the hard work that has happened to make this possible, after the unfortunate delays due to the pandemic.
"Everyone on the site is extremely grateful this has been agreed, allowing us to return to normality knowing the future of the site is secure.
"We are also very thankful to the support we have received throughout this period of uncertainty from the community, local businesses, and police."
The Leighton Street traveller site in Preston is one of three sites for the traveller community that are owned by Lancashire County Council with the others being in Hyndburn and Lancaster.
The respective local authorities in each location currently manage the sites on behalf of the County Council under separate management arrangements.
The site is situated on the western edge of Preston City Centre within the vicinity of the Sir Tom Finney Sports Centre, which forms part of the UCLAN complex.
Preston City Council actively applies and prioritises the principles of community wealth building wherever applicable and appropriate.
Community wealth building is an approach which aims to ensure the economic system builds wealth and prosperity for everyone.
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