Travellers and Planning.
There are a significant number of Travellers who have no legal place to stay (see Gypsy count). Within the UK, when camped in an unauthorised manner, people are subject to eviction (when camped on land not owned by the Traveller concerned) or enforcement proceedings (when Travellers are camped on their own land without the benefit of planning permission) or even imprisonment under various pieces of legislation. This leads to severe insecurity amongst the people affected. Whilst there are currently 4918 pitches provided by Local Authorities and Registered Social Landlords in England (Jan 2010), the withdrawal of central government grants towards building and refurbishing such sites means that the number of places is not likely to increase. Hence the burden of provision falls on private provision.
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The difficulties which face individual Travellers and family groups in gaining planning permission cannot be exaggerated.
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It is widely agreed that Travellers experience disproportionate difficulty when faced with gaining planning permission. This is due to the way the planning system operates, the extreme marginalisation of Travellers, prejudice against Travellers and official indifference to the position of this minority group. Many planning authorities seem willing and able to turn down almost every planning application from a Gypsy and Traveller. Prejudicial and racist statements are common from individual members of planning committees, whilst too often very little help is given to individual Travellers from planning officers, despite advice contained in Circular 1/94 and Circular 01/06 that practical advice and assistance should be given by Local Authorities.
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The fact that the majority of Travellers have to go through the appeals system to meet their basic needs calls into question the fairness of the planning system. Preparing a case for appeal calls on skills which few Travellers have (the illiteracy rate amongst traditional Travellers in particular mitigates dealing successfully with paperwork) and the costs are often very large. Many years of stress and strain are often involved – one group spent 12 years and many thousands of pounds before they managed to get planning permission. The effects on individuals of the stress of the planning process has led to marriage break up, depression based illness, despair and gross insecurity, impacting particularly on children.
Watch the Sites and Rights video from Traveller Times
Guide to applying for planning permission
Firstly, look at our page on a guide to buying land. Once you have bought a piece of land you will need to submit a planning application to the Local Planning Authority (LPA).
There are many individuals and organisations that are willing to help Travellers fill in planning application forms and speak to the Local Authority on their behalf, including FFT.
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The most likely outcome will be that your application will fail. You must expect this and expect to have to appeal against the decision. This is very important as this is where things can get expensive – that is, not counting the cost of the land, any landscaping you do and any services you might put in. You need to think about all of this before you even begin.
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If you are on any benefits, like Income Support or Jobseekers Allowance, you may be entitled to free legal representation, however, it is very difficult to find solicitors willing and able to take this on. If you are on a low income and need assistance with your planning it is possible to get the help from Planning Aid, an independent organisation which assists people with planning issues (http://www.planningaid.rtpi.org.uk)
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If you are not able to get free legal representation or help from Planning Aid you will need to employ the services of a private planner and if your case goes to appeal, it is likely to cost you several thousand pounds. For a list of planners with experience of Gypsy and Traveller planning cases download list as PDF here.
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Once a planning application is submitted the LPA will assess your application. A planning officer will either recommend that it should be accepted or refused. Most Gypsy and Traveller planning cases will go to committee where local councillors will make a decision on whether you should be given planning permission or not. They can ignore the recommendations of the planning officer and make their own decision, which unfortunately more often than not is a refusal. You then have the right to appeal against their decision to the Planning Inspectorate.
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At a planning hearing or inquiry, the Planning Inspectorate will look at the merits of your case. Your chances of success at this stage are better, although nothing is guaranteed. Your best chance of success at the appeal stage is if you have strong personal circumstances. This usually includes things like the fact that you have nowhere else to go (no other sites available to you) or you need to stay in the area for health and/or education reasons (your children attend the local school, you are registered with the doctor or you work locally).
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You will also need to establish that you have ‘Gypsy status’ which is outlined in Circular 01/06. This doesn’t just mean that you are an ethnic Gypsy or Irish Traveller, but that you are also a Gypsy in planning terms:
Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling show people or circus people travelling together as such.
In planning law, anyone is a Gypsy if they travel for work. In other words, if they do seasonal work on farms, travel to fairs to trade, and things like that. It is useful to show that you come from a Traveller background (that your grandparents and parents were Travellers and live a Traveller life) and that you still travel yourself. This can just mean that you go travelling to see family or to weddings and funerals and to fairs throughout the year. But you must show that you do still travel, even if it is not as much as your parents or grandparents might have.
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If you are housed, you will need to show that you have a strong cultural aversion to living in a house. Things that help to show this would be that you were born in a trailer/caravan, you were brought up on the road or on sites, you have never lived in a house before, you were forced to move into housing because you had no other choices open to you, and/or you are having problems living in a house (such as suffering from stress, discrimination from neighbours, your children are being bullied). If any of these things are happening, you will need to prove it by providing letters from doctors, schools, or the police to support your case.
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You will also need to show that you cannot move back onto any other existing legal site. This means checking to see if there are any pitches on local authority sites in the area. If there are pitches free, you would need to show that you could not move onto these pitches because of problems you have or might have if you did. This would have to be quite serious, such as a major dispute with another family, threats of violence or actual attacks. In most cases, there are no pitches available and very long waiting lists, but you will need to check this out.
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The final thing to remember is that every case is different and must be looked at separately. There are no hard and fast rules and anything is possible.
Production team: Ben Hole and Helen Lane
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Government Circulars
A number of Government planning circulars have been issued in relation to planning and Gypsies.
Circular 1/94 Gypsy Sites and Planning tightened up the law on unauthorised camping. The Circular effectively reduced the opportunities for Travellers to obtain planning permission by explicitly excluding Green Belt as an area which might be considered as suitable for Gypsy sites, whilst purporting to aim to meet the needs of the nomadic population. This circular was followed later in the year by Circular 18/94, which dealt with unauthorised camping and local authority duties towards unauthorised camping and commended tolerance towards Gypsies camping in an unauthorised manner, other things being equal.
Download the document here as a PDF
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Circular 01/2006 ‘Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Sites’ issued at the beginning of 2006 sets out guidance on how Local Authorities should fulfil their obligations to meet the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers, imposed on them by the 2004 Housing Act.
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A year after Circular 1/2006 was issued FFT researched how much progress had been made by Local Planning Authorities to make provision and what plans they had made for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation. It was decided to make a postal survey of key local authorities and follow this up with a trawl through their websites to identify their plans through published Local Development Schemes (LDS). It was hoped that such a survey would enable progress to be gauged and ascertain likely completion times of the planning process to meet the large unmet need for caravan sites for Gypsies and Travellers. Read the report: FFT’s Planning Policy development and provision for Gypsy and Traveller Sites in England (2007).
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For more information on Government circulars and other planning related document please go to our ‘Planning Documents’ page.
