Call for consultation as new Deregulation bill threatens to increase Traveller accommodation crisis
MIKE DOHERTY
News reporter
A CONTROVERSIAL new Coalition Government bill designed to “cut red tape” and “give power to local communities” will add to England's Gypsy and Traveller site accommodation crisis, claim Gypsy and Traveller campaigners.
The Deregulation Bill, intended for England only and not Scotland or Wales, which will become law if passed by Parliament, has been submitted by the Government to be checked by a joint Committee of the House of Lords and the House of Commons. As part of that scrutiny, the Committee is currently asking for Gypsy and Traveller campaigners to submit their views on part of the bill, clause 21, which plans to remove the power of ministers to force local authorities in England prepare local housing plans. The committee will then report to Parliament before the bill is voted on to become law.
New Bill not a “game-changer”
As part of this scrutiny, the joint Committee contacted the Advisory Council for the Education of Romany and other Travellers (ACERT) for their views and ACERT alerted other Romany Gypsy and Traveller campaign groups.
After studying the Bill, Gypsy and Traveller site planning experts and lawyers have decided that the proposed changes are not a “game changer”, as an important legislative power that forces councils to assess and consider the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers will remain. If councils fail to do this, site developers will still be able to argue that a new site is needed.
Michael Hargreaves, a planning expert says that a few successful planning applications and appeals for new Traveller sites have used clause 21 to strengthen their case, but that most relied on the failure of many local councils to count how many Gypsies and Travellers in their area need somewhere to live and to have a plan to meet that need.
“Traveller accommodation crisis”
However, the experts do warn that clause 21 should be opposed. Matthew Brindley, from the Traveller Movement called it “the thin end of the wedge” in a Coalition Government 'localism' trend of removing central government duties on local councils. He adds that clause 21 is a new development in this trend that threatens to increase the “Traveller accommodation crisis”.
Mr Brindley points out that approximately some 14% of Romany Gypsies and Travellers who live in caravans live on insecure and unauthorised sites or roadside encampments and that more needs to be done for this “significant minority”. He adds that according to Government figures for 2013, only 69% of major planning decisions for Traveller residential planning applications were passed, compared to 82% for planned major residential developments for the wider population, with a new report by the Campaign for Rural England claiming that this year alone, 150,464 new houses amongst residential developments for the wider population are being planned for Green Belt sites.
Chris Whitwell, from the charity Friends, Families and Travellers, adds that even the United Nations has castigated the Coalition Government for its failure to address the Gypsy and Traveller accommodation crisis and that the proposed Clause 21 is a step in the wrong direction. “There is no substantive evidence to show that, left to their own accord, local authorities will make sufficient progress towards meeting the substantial shortfall in the provision of accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers and we ask that Clause 21 be deleted or amended,” he says.
Chris Johnson, of the Community Law Partnership, points out that the Coalition Government' 'localism' trend is moving in the opposite direction to Welsh Government, which is promising to increase duties on Welsh councils to provide Traveller sites. “Presuming that the Welsh Government keep to their word and that the Coalition Government votes in the new Draft Regulation Bill for England, regardless of objections from Romany Gypsy and Traveller organisations, it will be very interesting to see what happens in both countries from then onwards,” he says.
The deadline for submissions about clause 21 is 23rd September. Your views can be submitted to the Committee via the Parliament website:
And you can read the Bill (specifically in this case clause 21) below: