** All information on this page may be subject to change as the new Government reviews the department and services**
The Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) is responsible for Gypsy and Traveller issues.
Eric Pickles MP, the new Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, has announced that he intends to abolish regional bodies and their RSSs will no longer play a part in the process12. In short that means that local authorities will be required to identify sufficient sites to address the need that they have identified in the GTAAs and not the numbers of sites that the regional bodies have stipulated that they should identify. Those representing Gypsies and Travellers fear that this approach will not address the shortfall and that many local authorities will, true to historical form, bow to pressure for local people and nimbyism and do little or nothing to address the existing need and all the good work done up and down the country to reduce the shortage of sites will be wasted. Such a result would have a catastrophic effect on Gypsies and Travellers and their ability to access the healthcare and education that the rest of our society enjoys. Read more about the announcement from the coalition government here: http://www.communities.gov.uk/news/corporate/1700758
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Friends, Families and Travellers response:
We welcome the government’s intention to introduce security of tenure on local authority Gypsy sites, as they have been obliged to do this since the 2004 ruling in the European Court of Human Rights; so this has been awaited for a long time.
However we find the other proposals worrying.
Why did this government scrap the sites grants that were available under the Homes and Communities Agency only to replace them with New Homes Bonus Scheme? We are unclear as to how this Bonus Scheme will work as the details have not been provided yet.
It is a myth that Travellers are bypassing planning regulations that others have to abide by. Retrospective planning applications are common from all sections of society for various things; it would be discriminatory to legislate against one small ethnic group making retrospective planning applications, when the majority of retrospective planning applications from the wider society were allowed to continue.
There is no need to withdraw Circular 01/06 and replace it with “light touch” guidance. “Light touch” sounds exactly that; what action is this government going to take to actually resolve Travellers’ severe accommodation needs, rather than keep bashing them for having them, and removing all the legislation that is there with the intention of actually resolving the problem? There are no measures the government is introducing to actually resolve the problem and provide the estimated 5,000 pitches that are needed in England alone.
Lord Avebury responses in The Guardian letter page:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/sep/06/traveller-site-targets-eric-pickles
Eric Pickles, secretary of state for communities and local government, is wrong to give the impression that giving Travellers on local authority sites security of tenure is an innovation by this government (Pickles unveils crackdown on unapproved Traveller sites, 30 August). It follows from section 318 of the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, which stems in turn from a 2004 ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, that treating Gypsies and Travellers less favourably than other tenants of mobile homes was a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights. Implementing this ruling is very welcome, but it applies to less than half the Travellers in England. Nearly one in five are on unauthorised sites, which are to be the target of stronger enforcement powers.
This is not “putting fairness back into communities” as Mr Pickles claims. The right way is to ensure that local authorities grant planning permission for enough sites to accommodate Travellers, for the simple reason they have nowhere else to go. Letting 368 councils decide individually how many pitches they will allow is a recipe for inaction, and promising undefined financial incentives to councils to develop sites themselves cannot have greater effect than the 100% new sites grant which Mr Pickles has abolished.
Given the reluctance of councils to allocate land for Travellers, Mr Pickles is foolish to scrap the existing site targets and the prospect of government intervention where councils fail to act. That was the right way to ensure that sites would be provided, and thus unauthorised encampments eliminated.
Eric Avebury
Lib Dem, House of Lords
Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Encampments:
In 2004 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (Now DCLG) and the Home Office jointly launched the ”Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Encampments”. It provides guidance to local authorities, the police and others on managing unauthorised encampments.
Click here to read the document on the DCLG website.
FFT was involved in the consultation process, by the DCLG, for the creation of the “Guidance” document.
The Social Landlords Order 2006 (Permissible Additional Purposes: England) relating to the provision of Gypsy and Traveller sites
Secondary legislation to allow Registered Social Landlords to build and manage Gypsy and Travellers sites and receive social housing grant for that purpose. Regulatory Impact Assessment, Race Equality Impact Assessment. Published October 2006.
http://www.communities.gov.uk/index.asp?id=1503766
Gypsy Caravan Count:
The DCLG is responsible for Gypsy and Traveller issues. The DCLG co-ordinates the bi-annual Gypsy Count and has produced
“The Provision and Conditions of Local Authority Sites in England“.
Click here to read more about the Gypsy Caravan Count.
Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) Links:
- Read “Counting Gypsies and Travellers: A Review of the Gypsy Caravan Count System” on the DCLG website
- Guide to effective use of enforcement powers – Part 1: Unauthorised encampments
This guide gives step by step instructions on the powers to use against unauthorised encampments. Published 2 February 2006. DCLG website. - Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments: Draft Practice Guide
This draft guide provides advice on carrying out an accommodation assessment of the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers. Published 2 February 2006. DCLG website. - Local Authorities and Gypsies and Travellers: Guide to responsibilities and powers
This information booklet provides a brief overview of the Government’ s policy framework in relation to Gypsies and Travellers and including case studies on both site provision and effective enforcement. Published 2 February 2006. DCLG website. - Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Camping
This guidance, produced jointly by the DCLG and the Home Office, provides best practice advice on managing cases of unauthorised camping (February 2004). DCLG website. - Supplement to the Guidance on Managing Unauthorised Camping
Contains guidance on the new legislation section 62A to 62E into the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, introduced under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003. Published March 2005. DCLG website. - The provision and condition of local authority Gypsy/Traveller sites in England
Summary of the research report ‘Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller sites in England. DCLG website. - Government Response to DCLG Select Committee Report on Gypsy&Travellers Sites
On 27 January 2005 the Government published it’s response to the House of Commons DCLG Select Committee’s report of 8 November 2004. DCLG website. - Gypsies and Travellers
Housing Act 2004 – Factsheet 16. Updated February 2006. DCLG website. - Circular 01/06: Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites
This Circular replaces Circular 01/94 and provides updated guidance on the planning aspects of finding sites for Gypsies and Travellers and how local authorities and Gypsies and Travellers can work together to achieve that aim. DCLG website. - Definition of the term “gypsies and travellers” for the purposes of the Housing Act 2004
Consultation period from 2 February 2006 to 28 April 2006. DCLG website. - Planning Policy Statement 11: Regional Spatial Strategies
This policy statement sets out the procedural policy on the nature of RSSs and focuses on what should happen in preparing revisions to them and explains how this relates to the Act and associated regulations. DCLG website. - Planning Policy Statement 12: Local Development Frameworks
This planning policy statement sets out the Government’s policy on the preparation of local development documents, which will comprise the local development framework. DCLG website. - Planning Policy Guidance 2: Green belts. DCLG website.
- Planning Policy Guidance 3: Housing. DCLG website.
- Planning Policy Guidance 18: Enforcing planning control
(PDF 23 Kb) PDF Document. DCLG website. - Anti-social behaviour guidance: Police powers
Consultation period 27 February 2004 to 21 May 2004 on draft guidance, Section 60 to 64 of the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 insert sections 62A to 62E into the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 (CJPOA). DCLG website. - 195: Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller sites in England
Housing Research Summary No.195. This research collected a large amount of information, much of it new, about Gypsy/Traveller sites, how they are managed and about future needs. Main findings presented as per the headings in the full report. DCLG website. - 172: The provision&condition of local authority gypsy/ traveller sites (Eng.)
Housing Research Summary No.172. Forerunner to Housing Research Summary No. 195. DCLG website. - 150: Monitoring the good practice guidance on managing unauthorised camping Housing Research SummaryNo.150. Key findings of a project, which provided an independent assessment of how local authorities and the police have implemented the 1998 good practice guidance and what further guidance may be needed. DCLG website.
- 090: Local authority powers for managing unauthorised camping
Housing Research Summary No.90. The School of Public Policy at the University of Birmingham looked at how existing powers for dealing with unauthorised camping were being used, and to produce good practice guidance for local authorities. DCLG website.
