Reading's council must change policy to find places for Travellers after unauthorised encampments popped up around town.
Hotspots named include the stretch between Morrison's and Aldi on Basingstoke Road, the Reading Gateway car park and Prospect Park in Tilehurst. Two caravans were spotted at the Foxhays Road green in Whitley.
The council says people from travelling communities often set up unauthorised camps because Reading has no designated stopping place.
It had planned seven pitches near the Thames Water treatment works in Island Road, but scrapped that project in 2024 after the Environment Agency objected.
Space for travelling communities is tied to the council's Local Plan. The plan was adopted in 2019 and is now subject to a partial update.
The partial update was sent to the planning inspectorate in May last year for examination by inspector Joanna Gilbert, who has identified main modifications the council must make.
Those changes focus on gaps in evidence about the accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers and the impact of proposed development on water quality.
The council must approve the modifications at its policy committee before they go out for consultation. A decision is due at the committee meeting on 16 September.
The proposed modification says that within 18 months of adopting the partial update the council must produce a new assessment of travelling communities' needs and carry out water quality modelling with the Environment Agency and Thames Water.
They must then check whether these issues are a significant change in local circumstances; if so, work on the next Local Plan will begin. Planning officers warned that withdrawing the update would mean starting that work sooner.
If the inspector finds the partial update sound and legally compliant, it will go to full council for adoption in January 2027. The council had also looked at Richfield Avenue near the Reading Festival site but dropped that in favour of the River Academy secondary school.
James Aldridge, Local Democracy Reporter
