Welsh Government slammed for failing to pressure councils over Traveller site inaction

The Welsh Government is failing its Gypsies and Travellers by not using its powers to force councils to address the dire lack of Traveller sites, said a Senedd report released last week.

The report, from a Senedd (equivalent to Parliament in the UK government) cross-party Welsh government housing committee, who interviewed Gypsies and Travellers across Wales, called on the Welsh government to act, citing racism and lack of political will as factors in Welsh councils repeated failure to fulfil their duties and build more sites, including transit provision.

Henry Price, a Romany Gypsy from Castleton, South Wales, welcomed the report but was sceptical about whether the Welsh Government would act.

“I would like to say that its good the Senedd have looked into this, but I would like to say that I really think we have been let down in 2022 and things are no better than they were 20 or 30 years ago despite all the promises and the new laws,” Henry Price told the Travellers’ Times.

“People like myself with our own private site, we get no help from our council to improve things or expand so there is room for our family because private sites need help as well as the council making sites for people, but unfortunately all they do is enforce (on limits to site occupation),” added Henry Price.

“Now, especially now, when they are telling us we are unable to travel like we did before, these rules should be flexible so that our family can pull on our ground because where else are we supposed to go? If you’re born and reared in England or Wales you should have the same rights as everyone but it doesn’t seem like that and everything seems so negative for the Gypsy people at the moment. Unless the Welsh Government gets behind us Gypsy people, we will be on our own so I hope they take notice of what the Senedd Committee report says.”

Decisions to expand or create new Traveller sites in Wales, as well as their maintenance, are made by Welsh councils that since 2016 have had a statutory duty to ensure that Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs are met. But the Senedd committee insists that the Welsh Government are also failing to hold local councils to account and are content to place responsibility for the lack of progress solely on councils. In England, councils do not have a statutory duty to meet Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs.

A key recommendation from the Senedd Committee report calls for the Welsh Government to set out how and when it will use its powers to ensure that councils are delivering on their duties in finding appropriate sites for Travellers.

The Committee’s report also found that many sites are situated in inappropriate areas, such as at the side of dangerous roads or far away from services and amenities, with no facilities for children or the elderly.

 The Committee heard evidence of shared facilities which had not been refurbished in decades, a lack of facilities such as play areas for children, blocked drains, rat infestations and mouldy bathrooms.

Leeanne Morgan, who organised a group of west Wales Gypsies and Travellers to meet with the Senedd committee, said that the inaction and language of councils in their area made her feel like a second-class citizen.

Leeanne Morgan, who organised a group of west Wales Gypsies and Travellers to meet with the Senedd committee, said that the inaction and language of councils in their area made her feel like a second-class citizen.

"Being made to feel like second class citizens and that it doesn't matter that we are expected to live with substandard utilities is disgraceful,” said Leeanne Morgan.  ”The fact that we are still fighting every day for equality in 2022 makes you think that we are not truly valued as members of the community by our council. It just feels like out of sight out of mind."

The Committee found that a lack of political will is a significant reason for the inadequate number of sites for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in Wales, and that widespread racism and prejudice - including from councillors – was often a determining factor.

Irish Traveller Academic Martin Gallagher, who lives in Wales, giving evidence to the Committee, said: “I've delivered training to different political parties that are on these planning boards, and they've flat out told me to my face directly that they couldn't support Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people in any campaigns, because they would lose their voters.”

Campaigners believe that part of the problem of the Welsh Government failing to act may also be that all Gypsy and Traveller issues, including accommodation, are funnelled through a ‘racial justice’ prism and the Social Justice Ministry is the only one that responds or gives evidence to Senedd Committees.

While welcoming input from the Welsh Government Ministry of Social Justice, campaigners are wary of councils failing to provide accommodation and other services to Gypsies and Travellers being pigeon-holed as solely a ‘race issue’.

“As a coalition we want to see increased accountability and monitoring of the way in which local authorities are meeting their duties,” said Trudy Aspinwall, team manager of Travelling Ahead and part of a coalition of Welsh Gypsy and Traveller campaign groups and NGOs.

“Part of the problem would seem to be that the provision of Gypsy and Traveller sites sits under the Minister for Social Justice in the Welsh Government and not under Ministers for Housing, Local Authority or even Planning services who are the ones that should actually be delivering sites and services direct to communities,” added Trudy Aspinwall.

“The Local Government Minister did not even appear before the Senedd Committee and we believe this disconnect has led to councils being let off the hook and not seeing this as their core business and not being held to account.  

The 22 recommendations in the report represent a huge programme of work that is urgently needed across different Welsh government divisions and each of those need to play their part if real change that has been promised is going to be achieved.”

The Travellers’ Times approached the Welsh Government for a response to the Senedd report and to ask the following two questions:

• Why does the issue of GT site accommodation sit solely under the Welsh Social Justice Ministry when there is clearly a crossover with the Finance and Local Government Ministry?

• Why did the Finance & Local Government Ministry not give direct evidence to the Senedd Local Government & Housing Committee when they are clearly key decision makers on the issues (local government and housing) that the Committee were scrutinising?

In response to our request, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We will continue to work closely with the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities to address the concerns raised and take action if a local housing authority has failed to comply with their responsibility to find suitable accommodation. We will consider the report in detail and the recommendations made.”

The Welsh Government also said that the Minister for Social Justice is responsible for co-ordinating issues relating to the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and works closely with Ministers across Government, including the Minister for Finance and Local Government.

They added that as part of the draft Anti-racist Wales Plan, they will annually review the compliance of every council to ensure there are enough pitches to meet the need in their area.

Trudy Aspinwall welcomed the response but was wary about the Anti-Racist Plan being the correct tool on its own to deliver all the changes that Welsh Gypsies and Travellers want.

“It’s good that the Anti-Racist Action Plan introduces the yearly monitoring, that’s crucial, but again they seem to be overly reliant on the new action plan as the key driver when it’s the legal duty that has been in for six years that should be the compliance mechanism to force councils to create more sites, Gypsies and Travellers feel like the law which was brought in to ensure their legal rights isn’t worth the paper it’s written on,” said Trudy Aspinwall.

“The assessments that councils have to make to find out how many new pitches are needed, including transit sites, in their area have been with the Minister ‘for review’ for six months now and nothing yet has happened,” added Trudy Aspinwall.

“Maybe once the Welsh Government have considered the recommendations, they will provide more detail and, yes, Wales is moving in the right direction compared to England, but it’s just so slow and Gypsies and Travellers and across Wales just aren’t seeing any changes to their every- day lives and situations or in the communications from the government or their councils. With the new police powers now in force, transit sites and support for travelling families and traditions need to be in place now - it just doesn’t really feel like the Government are ‘on it’ and ready to deliver on this significant programme of work with the resources that will be needed at every level.”

Mike Doherty/TT News

(Lead photograph: A home in Rover Way, Cardiff © Katharine Quarmby)

Further reading:

DUMPED BY THE SEWAGE:  HOW SO MANY TRAVELLER SITES ENDED UP IN HAZARDOUS AND ISOLATED PLACES, an investigation by Katharine Quarmby