The man in charge of managing travellers in Oxfordshire says there has been a "dramatic reduction" in the number of illegal camps in the county.

John Parry was speaking in response to new proposals by the Conservative Party to deal with travellers living on illegal sites by making trespass in certain circumstances a criminal offence.

Mr Parry, the county council's director for community safety, says the county has gone over and above its duty in providing six legal camps for travellers.

The sites -- at Redbridge Hollow in Oxford, Benson, East Challow, Sandford-on-Thames, Standlake and Wheatley -- have a total of 80 pitches for caravans and are running at near full capacity.

The county council does not have to make any provision for travellers.

The Conservatives have pledged to prevent travellers exploiting planning laws and the Human Rights Act to occupy land illegally. Michael Howard, Tory leader, accused the Government of turning a blind eye.

Unauthorised traveller encampments have flourished in Oxfordshire and other rural areas.

A survey last year found the number of illegal sites in Oxfordshire had exploded from 14 to 36 in the space of two years. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott sparked outrage earlier this month when he told local authorities they must provide more land for travellers to occupy legally.

But Mr Parry, who is also the county's chief fire officer, said: "We have six legal sites when other councils don't have any so in relative terms we are making provision when we are not obliged to make any.

"It's an area that requires delicate and sensitive care, balancing the needs of travellers with the needs of settled communities.

"We have a specialist traveller services unit, which will continue to deliver its service as it has done in the past. There has been a dramatic overall reduction in unauthorised encampments."

Travellers have recently taken over and developed a site at Hadden Hill near Didcot.

South Oxfordshire District Council has won a High Court injunction and issued enforcement notices but is waiting for a public inquiry after the travellers appealed against moves to remove them.

Last month travellers invaded the Water Eaton park-and-ride site near Kidlington for the second time in a year, prompting the county council to close the waiting rooms and toilets at the facility.

The Tories want to create a new criminal offence of trespass, currently only a civil offence, which means landowners are left to pursue private proceedings in the courts.

As a criminal offence the illegal occupation of land would attract the attentions of the police and result in a potential public prosecution.

A spokesman for Mr Prescott said local authorities should provide more traveller sites, saying the "core problem" was not a lack of powers, but a lack of legal sites. "If you move on illegals they have to have somewhere legal to go", he said.