ROOF Blog

A group of Gypsies and Travellers living at Dale Farm near Wickford in Essex have lost their battle against eviction after law lords dismissed their appeal to overturn an earlier ruling. The law lords dismissed the Travellers’ appeal saying that Basildon council had acted lawfully, as half the people living at the farm do not have planning permission. A United Nations’ committee is recommending Basildon council grant planning permission where needed or offer alternative land.

A lack of new sites is forcing Gypsies and Travellers to live on housing estates against their will, new research from the London Gypsy and Traveller Unit has found. Up to 80 per cent of Travellers living in permanent homes said they wanted to leave, but a shortage of authorised sites meant they had to stay put.

Just ‘one square mile of land’ could solve the shortage of land in England for Gypsy and Traveller sites. A new report from the Equalities and Human Rights Commission found that investing in proper provision could generate income for councils, improve community relations and provide decent accommodation. The report shows that well-run, authorised sites could exist in harmony within communities, and could cost less than the £18 million of council taxpayers’ money a year.

The Homes and Communities Agency has released new guidance for local authorities, arms length management organisations and registered social landlords to bid for funding to provide social rented sites for Gypsies and Travellers. The national housing and regeneration agency has published guidelines on a government fund worth £32 million – including grant and bidding timetables, and instructions for completing bids.

A report calls for councils to provide more land for Gypsies and Travellers, rather than bowing to local objections. The research for the Race Equality Foundation found that 90 per cent of planning applications for Traveller sites are turned down at the first hearing, and it costs £6 million a year to evict those who aren’t legally camped. However, one square mile of land would provide legal pitches for the 5,000 families currently living on unauthorised sites.

A court of appeal ruling means that hundreds of Travellers may be facing eviction after settling ‘illegally’ on green belt land. The judges overturned a ruling made last May when the High Court granted the 63 families a temporary reprieve from eviction. The judges said that allowing the families to stay showed ‘flagrant disregard’ of the law. Basildon district council argued that the number of Travellers had soared 475 per cent in less that 20 years, and the site in dispute now houses 40 per cent of all Travellers in the county. The residents have vowed to carry on staying at the site.

The government has announced more than 40 new and refurbished Gypsy and Traveller sites across England. Iain Wright, communities minister, announced six new sites and 37 extended or refurbished ones to help create homes for up to 25,000 Gypsies and Travellers. The sites are part of a £21 million scheme aimed at tackling the housing crisis within the community, and to help reduce the annual bill faced by local councils that are forced to evict Travellers from illegal sites. People living on the sites will pay rent and council tax and in return councils will provide rubbish collection, running water, electricity and other services.

The government is set to announce a new scheme aimed at addressing the housing crisis among the Gypsies and Traveller communities. Grants totalling £97 million, to be allocated during the next three years, are aimed to create homes for up to 25,000 people. About a third of the money is expected to go to the East of England where around a quarter of the country’s travelling families live but where there are only 16 per cent of the official sites. People on the sites will pay rent and council tax and in return the local authorities will provide rubbish collection, running water, electricity and other services. Communities and Local Government said that a ‘good supply of authorised sites can break the vicious circle of evictions that is costly in terms of both taxpayers’ money and the quality of life for Gypsies, Travellers and the settled communities’.