Councils failing on Traveller site rules

From Inside Housing

The vast majority of councils are failing to fulfil their legal duties to identify and provide sites for Travellers.

A report by campaign group the Traveller Law Reform Project reveals that just 4 out of 115 councils surveyed in the south east and east of England have complied with planning policies for Traveller sites.

Liberal Democrat peer Lord Eric Avebury will on Monday raise the matter in parliament, as the House of Lords debates government plans to give councils more powers to tackle unauthorised Traveller sites.

The planning policy for Traveller sites gave councils until 31 March this year to comply with a number of rules.

The rules mean councils must identify a five-year supply of ‘deliverable’ sites and set pitch targets over their local plan period based on accommodation needs assessments.

If councils cannot demonstrate this it could be more difficult for them to prevent applications for temporary planning permission being granted.

The TLRP’s report found compliance has been ‘slow’ and only four councils - Braintree, Rochford, Three Rivers and Crawley - have complied in full.

The report said just 25 authorities have completed a needs assessment that covers the local plan period, while 27 councils have set pitch targets for the period.

Separately, Traveller support group the London Gypsy and Traveller Unit said only a third of London boroughs have set targets for pitches.

Members of the all party parliamentary group for Gypsy Roma Travellers met local government minister Brandon Lewis to discuss the issue on Tuesday.

Mr Lewis told the MPs that the Communities and Local Government department does not collect figures for councils’ compliance, leaving it to the planning inspectorate to enforce.

Gill Brown, project officer at TLRP, said: ‘A great deal of time was spent on consulting on the PPTS yet there is apparently no monitoring and importantly no analysis of whether councils are complying.’

Lord Avebury said: ‘Quite honestly I am amazed that the CLG is not interested in the lack of progress being made with its own policy.’

The requirement for councils to draw up local plans was imposed following the government’s abolition of regional spatial strategies.

A spokesperson for the CLG said: ‘It is for town halls to lead rather than Whitehall to micromanage.’