TRAVELLERS living on an official camp are set to get £775,000-worth of repairs and improvements, after council chiefs secured funding from the Government.

Blackburn with Darwen is to get almost £600,000 towards ambitious plans to refurbish the Ewood camp which lies in the shadows of the famous Blackburn Rovers ground.

The council submitted its bid for the 20-caravan site last November when the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions announced a round of funding under a Gypsy Refurbishment Grant fund.

A total of 57 projects across England will share more than £8 million in further funding to help local authorities refurbish sites, with Blackburn with Darwen getting the largest single grant.

The revamp will will improve the drains, redevelop the toilet and shower block and provide a site superviser. About 100 people live in 20 permanent caravans on the site.

Initially, the cost of the project was placed at £500,000 but has risen since to £775,000, with 75 per cent coming from the Government.

When the application was made, Councillor Gail Barton, executive member for resources, said the physical condition of the site was very poor with two service blocks housing toilet and shower facilities being dilapidated.

Blocked drains and fly tipping were also problems.

A total of 86 bids has been received for government funding during 2002--2003 from councils for the second round of a three-year £17 million Gypsy Site Refurbishment Grant programme.

A bid by Lancashire County Council for 75 per cent of the £71,500 cost of upgrading the Leighton Street travellers site, Preston, was among 29 bids turned down.

Housing Minister Sally Keeble, said the existing network of local authority-owned gypsy sites represented a valuable resource for gypsies. "This injection of funding, following on from Round 1 of the programme, will help local authorities extend the useful life of sites, bring them into full use and improve the quality of life for residents."

Coun Barton said: "At the moment, the facilities at Ewood do not match those provided by neighbouring authorities. Similar sites in Bolton and Bury have recently been upgraded to a modern layout arrangement.

"Each pitch also has its own toilet facilities, which are built in blocks of four."

Traveller Michelle Lee, said: "All the other sites in the area are regularly renewed but this has not been touched for 13 years. We are rent-payers here, it's not free and we pay council tax like everyone else."

The evaluation of the bids, undertaken for the department by PricewaterhouseCoopers, involved a set of key criteria, including: quality of the project plan, outcome of consultation with residents, cost of the project, site condition analysis, previous investment history, site sustainability and certainty of the local contribution element.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw, said: "This is an important site and it is excellent news that this money will enable it to be modernised."