Campaigning for sites

London

Gypsies and Travellers have been living in London for centuries stopping on waste ground or owning land on the margins. Between 1968 and 1994 there was a statutory duty for each Borough to provide 15 pitches which the majority of boroughs complied with.

Since the repeal of this statutory duty by the conservative government in 1994, no new sites have been built and many have been closed resulting in a 12% reduction of pitches in London.

There is a well identified need for new sites in London and under the 2004 housing act, a statutory responsibility on the London Mayor to set pitch targets through the regional plan, and for each borough to provide them. The new government policies have removed regional planning structures and therefore pitch targets. However because the London plan is enshrined in legislation it remains in place.

Mayors' London Plan

We have been responding to the various consultations leading up to the Mayor's Draft Replacement London plan which was finally published in October 2009. With two subsequent alterations on pitch targets in March and September 2010, LGTU has responded to each change in the draft London Plan.

For a summary in pictures and text of our campaign on the London plan click here

For LGTU submissions click here

For London Gypsy Traveller Forum responses click here

National

New government policy for Planning for Traveller sites

The government has introduced a new draft planning policy 'planning for traveller sites' to replace the existing guidance (circulars 1/2006 and 04/2007). This is part of the Localism Bill which is currently going through parliament.

• There will be no regionally set targets - it will be left to the councils to decide on how many new pitches (if any) they will deliver.
• Local authorities will not have to recognise or use the existing needs assessments (the GTAA's) but can repeat the process by assessing the need for new pitches again – this will cause yet more delay.
• The needs of housed Travellers are not recognised because they no longer live on sites.

In the face of a possible legal challenge, the government extended the consultation and had meetings to hear views. Now that the government has realised that it's planning policy for Travellers sites does not fit with its overall National Planning Framework, they are therefore having another consultation which ends on 17th October. All this is very confusing. If you want to know more read LGTU's submission to the government to see what the issues are. To let your views be known contact the Communities and Local Government website by clicking here.