TRAVELLERS’ annual rent could be set to increase by £40,000 as part of council budget proposals for next year.

Bromley Council officers are looking at the option of increasing rent at the two traveller sites in the borough in Star Lane, St Mary Cray and Old Maidstone Road, Sidcup, from April next year.

There are 36 families across the two sites, which are currently receiving investment of almost £1m to upgrade facilities.

The increase in rent could mean an extra £1,000 per family, which works out at an extra £20 a week.

Mother-of-four Lucy Smith, 45, who lives on the Star Lane site, says travellers will rise above the scaremongering about how people are going to live.

She said: “Travellers can be quite self-sufficient, they know how to eat on a cheap budget, what cuts of meat to get.

“They can provide for themselves better than the average person.”

The council’s assistant director of community safety and public protection, Richard Foulger, said: “We are looking into the possibility of increasing rents at the travellers’ site in line with the average being charged across London, which is around £75 to £80 a week, against the background of a recent substantial investment to upgrade the site.”