Selby Mayor and District Councillor, Steve Shaw-Wright accused the council as having 'bottled it' after not putting forward a first choice location for the travellers' site potentially missing out on a £1 million government grant for the project.

He said, "Seven proposed sites have been identified all near centres of population.  The cost of any one of them would ultimately fall on the taxpayer. This authority had a golden opportunity to choose a site and bottled it."

A short list of potential sites, published in local media following a council leak, included sites at Carlton, Eggborough, Kelfield, Osgodby, Bondgate, Church Fenton Airfield and Wistow.

The Selby area has seen a dramatic rise in the number of illegal gypsy and traveller encampments over recent months as reported by Breathe Selby last month.

Responding to the accusations SDC Leader Mark Crane said, "We looked at sites provided by our officers back in April.  We didn't think there was a suitable one.... We've missed out on the government grant for this year.  However, if there aren't enough bids in this year for the government cash, we could potentially bid again next year."

The council operates some 24 pitches for the gypsy and travellers communities. This is understood to be some 26 pitches short of the national requirement.