From the Daily Mail
The Traveller father of a girl who appeared in the hit documentary series My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding has won £1million on the lottery.
Delighted father-of-four Jason Stanley - whose daughter Angel appeared on the show - has already blown more than £250,000 on lavish cars after hitting the jackpot last month.
Now his children are waiting for him to splash the cash on them.
After discovering his win, the 42-year-old Romany Traveller took his brood - Amber 21, Alfie, 17, Angel, 13 and Alby, nine - out for an Italian meal at a restaurant near to their home in Hayes, west London, where he broke the news.
Angel, who is different to most Traveller girls because she still attends school, said she wants something nice to wear to the Appleby Horse Fair, an annual gathering for Gypsies and Travellers, in Cumbria. She also wants a pair of Gina shoes.
Speaking to The Sun on Sunday, she said: 'It's amazing. We're all over the moon. I've told him I'd like some money to put in the bank and some proper clothes - designer stuff.'
Mr Stanley wasted no time in spending his new-found fortune after picking up the cheque.
He bought a brand new, navy, blue Bentley costing £200,000 and splurged another £50,000 on a Mercedes for 17-year-old Alfie.
The horse trader is separated from his wife Simone.
Daughter Angel, who attends a school in west London, goes against Gypsy norm by wanting to study for her future and sit her exams.
When she appeared in the programme in February she explained how she didn't want to be like other Traveller women who rely on their husbands and fathers for money.
She said: 'I want to earn my own money. I want to do something with my life. I don't want to sit at home with the children.'
Angel admits she has suffered racism at school, with some of her peers calling her 'pikey' or 'Gypsy scum'.
Initially a one-off show, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding was developed into a six part, prime-time series after it became a cult hit on Channel 4.
The documentary series revealed the eye-popping, extravagant nuptials that appear to be the norm today among young Traveller couples.
Viewers were given an insight into the lives and times of the modern Gypsy, showing that ceremony and ritual are all-important for the travelling community in their ‘diminishing’ way of life.
see also: From carsforstars.net Traveller lotto winner splashes his winning on luxury cars
Sunday, 25 March 2012
Travellers set up camp on Black Country Living Museum’s car park
From the Express and Star
Travellers have smashed their way through a steel gate and set up camp on an overflow car park belonging to the Black Country Living Museum.
Eight caravans and a motor home were today at the site next to the popular tourist attraction, which is expected to be visited by dozens of families over the weekend.
Bosses at the venue they were “disappointed”, but insisted the museum would be open as normal. They said legal action would be taken if the Travellers were still there on Monday.
Police were called after passers-by saw a group trying to smash their way through an 8ft gate to get into the site at around 2pm yesterday [16th March].
When museum staff arrived the Travellers refused to leave – and police confirmed there was a “confrontation”.
But officers said it was a “civil dispute” and left the scene when they were satisfied an “amicable solution” had been found.
Museum visitor services manager Kev Cooksey said the car park – next to the old Royal Brierley Crystal site where a £6 million archives centre is planned – would not have been used this weekend.
He said: “We are very disappointed. They have entered private ground and we have asked them to leave but they have refused.
“We wouldn’t have used the car park this weekend anyway and they are at the far end of the site which is 100 yards from the museum, so we don’t expect it to have any impact this weekend.
Police spokesman Lee Page said: “We attended an ongoing dispute which was resolved amicably between those involved without any police involvement.
“We attended originally because there had been a confrontation but it is now a civil matter.”
Travellers have smashed their way through a steel gate and set up camp on an overflow car park belonging to the Black Country Living Museum.
Eight caravans and a motor home were today at the site next to the popular tourist attraction, which is expected to be visited by dozens of families over the weekend.
Bosses at the venue they were “disappointed”, but insisted the museum would be open as normal. They said legal action would be taken if the Travellers were still there on Monday.
Police were called after passers-by saw a group trying to smash their way through an 8ft gate to get into the site at around 2pm yesterday [16th March].
When museum staff arrived the Travellers refused to leave – and police confirmed there was a “confrontation”.
But officers said it was a “civil dispute” and left the scene when they were satisfied an “amicable solution” had been found.
Museum visitor services manager Kev Cooksey said the car park – next to the old Royal Brierley Crystal site where a £6 million archives centre is planned – would not have been used this weekend.
He said: “We are very disappointed. They have entered private ground and we have asked them to leave but they have refused.
“We wouldn’t have used the car park this weekend anyway and they are at the far end of the site which is 100 yards from the museum, so we don’t expect it to have any impact this weekend.
Police spokesman Lee Page said: “We attended an ongoing dispute which was resolved amicably between those involved without any police involvement.
“We attended originally because there had been a confrontation but it is now a civil matter.”
Councillor warns of a 'rural riot' if Gypsy site gets the thumbs down
From Bedfordshire on Sunday
Rejecting Meadow Lane as a Gypsy and Traveller site could spark a ‘rural riot’ a councillor has warned.
Bedford Borough councillor Alison Field-Foster said such a decision will cause anger in the rural community if a planning committee turns down plans.
Cllr Field-Foster said: “If it’s not passed it puts pressure on villages where applications for Gypsy sites have gone in and it would put the council in a very difficult position. “There will be a lot of anger towards the current administration at the council and it could be the start of a rural riot.” The plans go before committee at Bedford Corn Exchange on March 26 with hundreds from the northern reaches of the borough expected to attend.
If the Meadow Lane site in Cardington is rejected there are fears applications for gypsy sites in Bletsoe, Felmersham, Roxton, Stagsden and Stevington will get the go-ahead to fill the Traveller pitch void.
Last year the council scrapped plans for the development claiming noise and odour problems wouldn’t have made the site viable according to an officer report.
But in December the findings were contradicted and a £28k U-turn was performed with a re-submission.
Rejecting Meadow Lane as a Gypsy and Traveller site could spark a ‘rural riot’ a councillor has warned.
Bedford Borough councillor Alison Field-Foster said such a decision will cause anger in the rural community if a planning committee turns down plans.
Cllr Field-Foster said: “If it’s not passed it puts pressure on villages where applications for Gypsy sites have gone in and it would put the council in a very difficult position. “There will be a lot of anger towards the current administration at the council and it could be the start of a rural riot.” The plans go before committee at Bedford Corn Exchange on March 26 with hundreds from the northern reaches of the borough expected to attend.
If the Meadow Lane site in Cardington is rejected there are fears applications for gypsy sites in Bletsoe, Felmersham, Roxton, Stagsden and Stevington will get the go-ahead to fill the Traveller pitch void.
Last year the council scrapped plans for the development claiming noise and odour problems wouldn’t have made the site viable according to an officer report.
But in December the findings were contradicted and a £28k U-turn was performed with a re-submission.
New rules to ensure fair play on planning
From Communities and Local Government
Local Government Minister Bob Neill today published a radically streamlined planning policy that will ensure fair treatment of Travellers in the planning system while respecting the interests of the settled community.
Condensing the previous 54 pages of Traveller site guidance into just eight pages, the new policy puts the provision of sites back into the hands of local councils, in consultation with local communities.
Ministers believe planning rules have seriously harmed community relations over the last few years, by imposing top-down targets for Traveller sites on local councils, increasing the number of unauthorised sites, and compelling councils to encroach onto the Green Belt. At the same time ministers believe that policy introduced under the previous administration created a perception of special treatment for some travellers undermining the notion of 'fair play' in the planning system and further harming community cohesion.
The Government is committed to the protection of the nation's green spaces and this policy will protect Green Belt land and countryside. Traveller sites are an inappropriate development on Green Belt land and the new guidance makes clear that there should be due regard for the protection of the local environment and amenities when local authorities set out their criteria for allocating sites.
The new measures continue the Government's policy of abolishing top-down targets set by central government. Previously the Government has abolished the architecture of regional planning tiers through the Localism Act to prevent any more regional strategies being created and set out measures in the Localism Act to provide stronger enforcement powers for local authorities to tackle unauthorised developments and abuse of retrospective planning permission.
The new planning policy also gives councils the freedom and responsibility to determine the right level of Traveller site provision in their area, in consultation with local communities, while ensuring fairness in the planning system.
The result of these changes will reduce tensions between settled and Traveller communities whilst enabling provision of accommodation from which Travellers can access education, health, welfare and employment infrastructure.
Mr Neill said:
"Top-down targets from central Government failed to provide adequate land for travellers and caused tensions with the local settled community. People want to see fair play in the planning system, treating everyone fairly and equally.
"These new policies will allow local authorities to govern their own affairs whilst ensuring that both travellers and the settled communities get a fair deal through the planning system."
The new policy forms part of a broader package, including changes to planning law to limit retrospective planning applications for any form of unauthorised development and the provision of incentives for new and refurbished Traveller sites, which will deliver a better balance between site provision and enforcement.
The Government has also been looking at the inequalities faced by Traveller groups and will shortly be publishing a report from the Ministerial Working Group.
Notes to editors
1. The full planning policy for Traveller sites can be found here: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/planningpolicytravellers.
2. The Government's key aims in respect of Traveller sites are:
that local planning authorities should make their own assessment of need for the purposes of planning;
to ensure that local planning authorities, working collaboratively, develop fair and effective strategies to meet need through the identification of land for sites;
to encourage local planning authorities to plan for sites over a reasonable timescale;
that plan-making and decision-taking should protect the Green Belt from inappropriate development;
to promote more private Traveller site provision while recognising that there will always be those Travellers who cannot provide their own sites;
that plan-making and decision-taking should aim to reduce the number of unauthorised developments and encampments and make enforcement more effective;
for local planning authorities to ensure their local plan includes fair, realistic and inclusive policies;
to increase the number of Traveller sites in appropriate locations with planning permission, to address under-provision and maintain an appropriate level of supply;
to reduce tensions between settled and Traveller communities in plan-making and planning decisions;
to enable provision of suitable accommodation from which Travellers can access education, health, welfare and employment infrastructure; and
for local planning authorities to have due regard to the protection of local amenities and the local environmental.
3. The Department has previously announced the inclusion of Traveller sites in the New Homes Bonus to reward councils that deliver additional sites. This means that councils will get financial benefits for building authorised Traveller sites where they are needed. The Department has also secured £60 million Traveller Pitch Funding to help councils and other registered providers build new Traveller sites. Successful bids totalling £47 million were announced in January, helping to provide over 750 new and refurbished pitches for Travellers.
see also: From Inside Housing - Travellers to be banned from green belt
Local Government Minister Bob Neill today published a radically streamlined planning policy that will ensure fair treatment of Travellers in the planning system while respecting the interests of the settled community.
Condensing the previous 54 pages of Traveller site guidance into just eight pages, the new policy puts the provision of sites back into the hands of local councils, in consultation with local communities.
Ministers believe planning rules have seriously harmed community relations over the last few years, by imposing top-down targets for Traveller sites on local councils, increasing the number of unauthorised sites, and compelling councils to encroach onto the Green Belt. At the same time ministers believe that policy introduced under the previous administration created a perception of special treatment for some travellers undermining the notion of 'fair play' in the planning system and further harming community cohesion.
The Government is committed to the protection of the nation's green spaces and this policy will protect Green Belt land and countryside. Traveller sites are an inappropriate development on Green Belt land and the new guidance makes clear that there should be due regard for the protection of the local environment and amenities when local authorities set out their criteria for allocating sites.
The new measures continue the Government's policy of abolishing top-down targets set by central government. Previously the Government has abolished the architecture of regional planning tiers through the Localism Act to prevent any more regional strategies being created and set out measures in the Localism Act to provide stronger enforcement powers for local authorities to tackle unauthorised developments and abuse of retrospective planning permission.
The new planning policy also gives councils the freedom and responsibility to determine the right level of Traveller site provision in their area, in consultation with local communities, while ensuring fairness in the planning system.
The result of these changes will reduce tensions between settled and Traveller communities whilst enabling provision of accommodation from which Travellers can access education, health, welfare and employment infrastructure.
Mr Neill said:
"Top-down targets from central Government failed to provide adequate land for travellers and caused tensions with the local settled community. People want to see fair play in the planning system, treating everyone fairly and equally.
"These new policies will allow local authorities to govern their own affairs whilst ensuring that both travellers and the settled communities get a fair deal through the planning system."
The new policy forms part of a broader package, including changes to planning law to limit retrospective planning applications for any form of unauthorised development and the provision of incentives for new and refurbished Traveller sites, which will deliver a better balance between site provision and enforcement.
The Government has also been looking at the inequalities faced by Traveller groups and will shortly be publishing a report from the Ministerial Working Group.
Notes to editors
1. The full planning policy for Traveller sites can be found here: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/planningandbuilding/planningpolicytravellers.
2. The Government's key aims in respect of Traveller sites are:
that local planning authorities should make their own assessment of need for the purposes of planning;
to ensure that local planning authorities, working collaboratively, develop fair and effective strategies to meet need through the identification of land for sites;
to encourage local planning authorities to plan for sites over a reasonable timescale;
that plan-making and decision-taking should protect the Green Belt from inappropriate development;
to promote more private Traveller site provision while recognising that there will always be those Travellers who cannot provide their own sites;
that plan-making and decision-taking should aim to reduce the number of unauthorised developments and encampments and make enforcement more effective;
for local planning authorities to ensure their local plan includes fair, realistic and inclusive policies;
to increase the number of Traveller sites in appropriate locations with planning permission, to address under-provision and maintain an appropriate level of supply;
to reduce tensions between settled and Traveller communities in plan-making and planning decisions;
to enable provision of suitable accommodation from which Travellers can access education, health, welfare and employment infrastructure; and
for local planning authorities to have due regard to the protection of local amenities and the local environmental.
3. The Department has previously announced the inclusion of Traveller sites in the New Homes Bonus to reward councils that deliver additional sites. This means that councils will get financial benefits for building authorised Traveller sites where they are needed. The Department has also secured £60 million Traveller Pitch Funding to help councils and other registered providers build new Traveller sites. Successful bids totalling £47 million were announced in January, helping to provide over 750 new and refurbished pitches for Travellers.
see also: From Inside Housing - Travellers to be banned from green belt
New Site’s Secrecy? - Leeds
From Leeds Gypsy and Traveller Exchange
Why has Cllr JL Carter tabled a white paper to a meeting of the full Leeds City Council accusing the administration of ‘secrecy’ over plans to build a new site, or sites, in Leeds?
Here is how it’s being reported in the Yorkshire Post.
This is what I think. Mr Carter is a proud and charismatic man. He is used to having his way. He cannot accept that his policies have proved to be in error and that a steady groundswell of local opinion is coming to this conclusion. Mr Carter and too many of his fellow elected members of all political parties have bolstered their profile by repeated verbal ‘Gypsy bashing’ and fear mongering, which sadly does prove popular with a vocal slice of the local electorate. Mr Carter is just sticking to type and returning to what has worked well to sustain his political career in the past. There is no untoward ‘secrecy’ going on but perhaps there is an election on the way?
Cllr Carter, when he was Executive Board member for Neighbourhoods and Housing, sanctioned £2mil expenditure on shifting homeless Gypsies and Travellers around Leeds, much to the detriment of both the Travellers and the many settled people of Leeds who experienced (and continue to experience) loss of amenity and stress due to intermittent unmanaged and unauthorised encampments particularly on local greenspace and leisure facilities.
I have to mention here that although the camps are still unauthorised and unplanned, the management has got much better under the new Labour administration. Rate of eviction and therefore expenditure has reduced significantly; rubbish collection and sanitary provision has increased (thereby reducing stress to local settled people); at last, moves to carry out appropriate enforcement against specific acts of nuisance or anti social behaviour (rather than just constant eviction of whole families) are being considered; and, most importantly, dialogue between the local roadside families and the city council is significantly improving.
So of course Mr Carter’s policy of ‘shift em, shift em fast, no matter the cost’ is being shown up as not having been effective or the only way to support residents of Leeds in the face of unauthorised encampment. Mr Carter’s methods may have ‘played to the crowd’ of his voters (many of whom didn’t experience unauthorised encampments anyway) but it did nothing to end the expenditure or animosity between our various communities. Mr Carter does not care about the problems of unauthorised encampment experienced by local settled Leeds people. Most, if not all, of them are not in his constituency. He cares about how the public perceive him. He cares about being re-elected.
The problem that the Leeds electorate need to consider is that the ‘shift em, demonise em’ approach does not solve the problems associated with unauthorised encampment and homelessness for either the residents of the camps, or of the houses.
Why has Cllr JL Carter tabled a white paper to a meeting of the full Leeds City Council accusing the administration of ‘secrecy’ over plans to build a new site, or sites, in Leeds?
Here is how it’s being reported in the Yorkshire Post.
This is what I think. Mr Carter is a proud and charismatic man. He is used to having his way. He cannot accept that his policies have proved to be in error and that a steady groundswell of local opinion is coming to this conclusion. Mr Carter and too many of his fellow elected members of all political parties have bolstered their profile by repeated verbal ‘Gypsy bashing’ and fear mongering, which sadly does prove popular with a vocal slice of the local electorate. Mr Carter is just sticking to type and returning to what has worked well to sustain his political career in the past. There is no untoward ‘secrecy’ going on but perhaps there is an election on the way?
Cllr Carter, when he was Executive Board member for Neighbourhoods and Housing, sanctioned £2mil expenditure on shifting homeless Gypsies and Travellers around Leeds, much to the detriment of both the Travellers and the many settled people of Leeds who experienced (and continue to experience) loss of amenity and stress due to intermittent unmanaged and unauthorised encampments particularly on local greenspace and leisure facilities.
I have to mention here that although the camps are still unauthorised and unplanned, the management has got much better under the new Labour administration. Rate of eviction and therefore expenditure has reduced significantly; rubbish collection and sanitary provision has increased (thereby reducing stress to local settled people); at last, moves to carry out appropriate enforcement against specific acts of nuisance or anti social behaviour (rather than just constant eviction of whole families) are being considered; and, most importantly, dialogue between the local roadside families and the city council is significantly improving.
So of course Mr Carter’s policy of ‘shift em, shift em fast, no matter the cost’ is being shown up as not having been effective or the only way to support residents of Leeds in the face of unauthorised encampment. Mr Carter’s methods may have ‘played to the crowd’ of his voters (many of whom didn’t experience unauthorised encampments anyway) but it did nothing to end the expenditure or animosity between our various communities. Mr Carter does not care about the problems of unauthorised encampment experienced by local settled Leeds people. Most, if not all, of them are not in his constituency. He cares about how the public perceive him. He cares about being re-elected.
The problem that the Leeds electorate need to consider is that the ‘shift em, demonise em’ approach does not solve the problems associated with unauthorised encampment and homelessness for either the residents of the camps, or of the houses.
Gypsy site planning delay leaves bad smell in the air -Bedfordshire
From Bedfordshire on Sunday
A controversial Gypsy site looks set to be hit by further delays after an environmental officers’ recommendation that it be deferred for more odour tests.
Smell experts from Bedford Borough Council submitted a report to the authority’s planning committee requesting that a decision on the Meadow Lane Gypsy and Traveller site off the A421, be delayed while more tests are carried out.
According to the 34-page report, due before committee tomorrow night, the sticking point is over fears that if the site is given the go-ahead any complaints made from residents of Meadow Lane about smells from the nearby Anglia Water sewage works could allow the utility firm to challenge odour abatement notices.
This would mean the council would have to shut the Gypsy site down.
The authority’s Conservative group has long campaigned for the site to be pushed forward and members have been conducting their own site visits and reports since March.
Cllr Alison Field-Foster said: “We have had four councillors coming here twice a day for two weeks and the only smell there’s been has come from the abattoir which is not even on the site.
“I understand the officers want to put every eventuality to the people making the decisions. However, I don’t see the point in wasting more money on consultants on odour tests because to be honest nothing is more sensitive than the human nose and we’ve smelt nothing.” Deputy Mayor Charles Royden said he wants a decision to be made this week, adding: “I won’t say I’m confident the plans for the site will go through, but I’m sincerely hopeful.
“This should not be deferred, it should be determined and it should be approved.
"We have been pushing for this site as the most suitable and available across the borough for a long time, and it is clear that the right thing for everyone is for Meadow Lane to be approved and brought into use as soon as possible.
“We have worked hard to get a government grant in place to provide the funding.”
A controversial Gypsy site looks set to be hit by further delays after an environmental officers’ recommendation that it be deferred for more odour tests.
Smell experts from Bedford Borough Council submitted a report to the authority’s planning committee requesting that a decision on the Meadow Lane Gypsy and Traveller site off the A421, be delayed while more tests are carried out.
According to the 34-page report, due before committee tomorrow night, the sticking point is over fears that if the site is given the go-ahead any complaints made from residents of Meadow Lane about smells from the nearby Anglia Water sewage works could allow the utility firm to challenge odour abatement notices.
This would mean the council would have to shut the Gypsy site down.
The authority’s Conservative group has long campaigned for the site to be pushed forward and members have been conducting their own site visits and reports since March.
Cllr Alison Field-Foster said: “We have had four councillors coming here twice a day for two weeks and the only smell there’s been has come from the abattoir which is not even on the site.
“I understand the officers want to put every eventuality to the people making the decisions. However, I don’t see the point in wasting more money on consultants on odour tests because to be honest nothing is more sensitive than the human nose and we’ve smelt nothing.” Deputy Mayor Charles Royden said he wants a decision to be made this week, adding: “I won’t say I’m confident the plans for the site will go through, but I’m sincerely hopeful.
“This should not be deferred, it should be determined and it should be approved.
"We have been pushing for this site as the most suitable and available across the borough for a long time, and it is clear that the right thing for everyone is for Meadow Lane to be approved and brought into use as soon as possible.
“We have worked hard to get a government grant in place to provide the funding.”
Saturday, 24 March 2012
Ministers to unveil crackdown on illegal Travellers' sites
From The Telegraph
The rules will ban new Traveller settlements on greenbelt land and stop councils from issuing compulsory purchase orders of private land to create new sites for such groups.
The coalition will also close a loophole exploited by a minority of Travellers who apply for planning permission retrospectively, having already illegally established themselves on someone else’s land.
Ministers will axe targets that oblige local authorities to create a certain number of pitches for travellers. In the future, local authorities will be allowed to determine how many Travellers sites they offer.
The new regulations will take effect from the beginning of April, but councils will be able to harness the new framework when taking enforcement action against illegal sites that have been established for years.
However, the government’s new stance may alarm Liberal Democrat members of the Coalition and concern European bureaucrats who have previously raised concerns about how Britain treats Travellers.
With the National Trust and other groups concerned that the Government’s planning reforms will inflict a building boom on the British countryside, Eric Pickles, the local government minister, is expected to argue that the robust new stance on unauthorised Travellers’ settlements shows the Coalition’s determination to protect rural areas.
Mr Pickles is said to believe that Labour gave all travellers a bad name by failing to clamp down on illegal sites. It is understood he will argue that Labour’s approach to the travelling community harmed community cohesion and undermined public confidence in the planning system.
Since 2000 there has been a fourfold increase in the number of unlawful development by travelling communities which have been “tolerated” by local authorities.
Ministers privately blame guidance published in 2006 by John Prescott, Labour’s deputy prime minister, for a sharp rise in unauthorised building by some groups of travellers. These recommendations to local authorities allowed green belt sites to be built on if there was “a specific, identified need for a Gypsy and Traveller site”.
That passage has been deleted from the new guidance to be published on Tuesday. The new version will say: “Inappropriate development is harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved Traveller sites (temporary or permanent) in the Green Belt are inappropriate development.”
Mr Prescott’s guidance also gave the green light for councils to compulsory purchase sites for Travellers, stating that: “local authorities can identify specific sites and make land available ... Authorities should also consider whether it might be appropriate to exercise their compulsory purchase powers to acquire an appropriate site”.
This passage has also been removed from the reworked guidance, which will also include a new statement that ministers hope will offer better protection to the countryside from Traveller sites: “Local planning authorities should strictly limit new Traveller site development in open countryside.”
Four years ago Epping Forest Council threatened to compulsory purchase land as a “last resort” to cope with increasing demand from Travellers. Eleanor Laing, the local Tory MP, described the policy as comparable to the “worst excesses of Communist dictatorships”.
The Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has taken a close interest in how Britain treats Travellers and other minority groups.
In early 2011 the committee’s members visited Dale Farm, at Crays Hill in Essex, which until it was cleared later in the year was Britain’s largest illegal Travellers camp. Basildon Council, the local authority responsible for the site, has said the cost of clearing the unauthorised site may have cost taxpayers more than £21 million over more than ten years.
see also:
The Express - Ban on rural Gypsy camps ‘harmful’
The Daily Mail - Steer clear of the Green Belt: Travellers told to stay away from land to prevent Dale Farm fiasco
24Dash - New planning policy bans Travellers from Green Belt
The Irish Times - Halting sites ban on greenbelt lands
Kirkwells' Planning Blog - Gypsies and Travellers
The rules will ban new Traveller settlements on greenbelt land and stop councils from issuing compulsory purchase orders of private land to create new sites for such groups.
The coalition will also close a loophole exploited by a minority of Travellers who apply for planning permission retrospectively, having already illegally established themselves on someone else’s land.
Ministers will axe targets that oblige local authorities to create a certain number of pitches for travellers. In the future, local authorities will be allowed to determine how many Travellers sites they offer.
The new regulations will take effect from the beginning of April, but councils will be able to harness the new framework when taking enforcement action against illegal sites that have been established for years.
However, the government’s new stance may alarm Liberal Democrat members of the Coalition and concern European bureaucrats who have previously raised concerns about how Britain treats Travellers.
With the National Trust and other groups concerned that the Government’s planning reforms will inflict a building boom on the British countryside, Eric Pickles, the local government minister, is expected to argue that the robust new stance on unauthorised Travellers’ settlements shows the Coalition’s determination to protect rural areas.
Mr Pickles is said to believe that Labour gave all travellers a bad name by failing to clamp down on illegal sites. It is understood he will argue that Labour’s approach to the travelling community harmed community cohesion and undermined public confidence in the planning system.
Since 2000 there has been a fourfold increase in the number of unlawful development by travelling communities which have been “tolerated” by local authorities.
Ministers privately blame guidance published in 2006 by John Prescott, Labour’s deputy prime minister, for a sharp rise in unauthorised building by some groups of travellers. These recommendations to local authorities allowed green belt sites to be built on if there was “a specific, identified need for a Gypsy and Traveller site”.
That passage has been deleted from the new guidance to be published on Tuesday. The new version will say: “Inappropriate development is harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved Traveller sites (temporary or permanent) in the Green Belt are inappropriate development.”
Mr Prescott’s guidance also gave the green light for councils to compulsory purchase sites for Travellers, stating that: “local authorities can identify specific sites and make land available ... Authorities should also consider whether it might be appropriate to exercise their compulsory purchase powers to acquire an appropriate site”.
This passage has also been removed from the reworked guidance, which will also include a new statement that ministers hope will offer better protection to the countryside from Traveller sites: “Local planning authorities should strictly limit new Traveller site development in open countryside.”
Four years ago Epping Forest Council threatened to compulsory purchase land as a “last resort” to cope with increasing demand from Travellers. Eleanor Laing, the local Tory MP, described the policy as comparable to the “worst excesses of Communist dictatorships”.
The Council of Europe’s Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities has taken a close interest in how Britain treats Travellers and other minority groups.
In early 2011 the committee’s members visited Dale Farm, at Crays Hill in Essex, which until it was cleared later in the year was Britain’s largest illegal Travellers camp. Basildon Council, the local authority responsible for the site, has said the cost of clearing the unauthorised site may have cost taxpayers more than £21 million over more than ten years.
see also:
The Express - Ban on rural Gypsy camps ‘harmful’
The Daily Mail - Steer clear of the Green Belt: Travellers told to stay away from land to prevent Dale Farm fiasco
24Dash - New planning policy bans Travellers from Green Belt
The Irish Times - Halting sites ban on greenbelt lands
Kirkwells' Planning Blog - Gypsies and Travellers
Llangan protest group wants the Travellers’ site dropped from LDP - Glamorgan
From the Glamorgan Gem
RESIDENTS in Llangan are using the Local Development Plan (LDP) consultation period to focus their opposition to the inclusion of a Travellers’ site in the village.
There is already one family living there, in a site that is currently illegal. The protest group, Llangan Action, has told The GEM that there is no issue with the family that is using that site.
However, there is fierce opposition to an official, bigger site, which has 21 ‘units’. Spokesman Richard Mann said that there were so many grounds for objection to its inclusion in the LDP, not least that the Vale Council had rejected more sustainable sites, and had chosen Llangan instead.
He said: “There is an onus on the Vale Council to consult with its strategic partners before delivering Gypsy and Travellers’ sites, and no consultation has taken place. This has been confirmed to us by the emergency services and by the local primary school.”
Objectors also believe the site is not suitable as it is ‘rural’ and ‘unsustainable’ – because there are no local services (shops, transport or health).
Richard Mann said: “The site allocation does not take into account the scale of the resident community. Llangan has a population of less than 100, with 35 homes, and the Travellers’ site will almost double the size of the hamlet.”
The villagers have a number of concerns about the site itself, and they argue that it is too small for 21 units to fit in. They argue that squeezing that many units onto the site would restrict the movement of any emergency vehicles that might be called.
Richard Mann said: “This proposal suggests a mix of permanent and transient units, and this is not an approach that is favoured by the Gypsy and Traveller community themselves.”
The action group also argues that the site is well away from employment areas, with poor transport links (the nearest bus stop is 800 metres away).
Although a school is near, the group argues that it is full to capacity.
Mr Mann argues that the council is using information selectively to make a case for the travellers site. He said that in the site assessment, Fferm Goch is listed as the local settlement, when it should be Llangan.
Furthermore, he argues that Fferm Goch has been treated as an area where there are employment opportunities, on the basis of four light industrial buildings.
He said: “Traders in those units have told me that they have made their own enquiries and agree that this site is against Welsh Government guidelines. They are concerned because those guidelines say that the mixing of permanent and transient Travellers has a history of causing anti-social behaviour
Another member of the action group, Dave Hammond, said: “We have been out knocking on doors in local villages such as Craig Penllyne and Treoes, and we already have more than 200 signatures on a petition.”
Richard Mann added: “Llangan Action is not a group that seeks to discriminate against the travelling community, and our objections are based on the nonsense of the scale of the site, its location, and the fact that the Gypsy and travelling community do not want to be isolated or discriminated against”.
RESIDENTS in Llangan are using the Local Development Plan (LDP) consultation period to focus their opposition to the inclusion of a Travellers’ site in the village.
There is already one family living there, in a site that is currently illegal. The protest group, Llangan Action, has told The GEM that there is no issue with the family that is using that site.
However, there is fierce opposition to an official, bigger site, which has 21 ‘units’. Spokesman Richard Mann said that there were so many grounds for objection to its inclusion in the LDP, not least that the Vale Council had rejected more sustainable sites, and had chosen Llangan instead.
He said: “There is an onus on the Vale Council to consult with its strategic partners before delivering Gypsy and Travellers’ sites, and no consultation has taken place. This has been confirmed to us by the emergency services and by the local primary school.”
Objectors also believe the site is not suitable as it is ‘rural’ and ‘unsustainable’ – because there are no local services (shops, transport or health).
Richard Mann said: “The site allocation does not take into account the scale of the resident community. Llangan has a population of less than 100, with 35 homes, and the Travellers’ site will almost double the size of the hamlet.”
The villagers have a number of concerns about the site itself, and they argue that it is too small for 21 units to fit in. They argue that squeezing that many units onto the site would restrict the movement of any emergency vehicles that might be called.
Richard Mann said: “This proposal suggests a mix of permanent and transient units, and this is not an approach that is favoured by the Gypsy and Traveller community themselves.”
The action group also argues that the site is well away from employment areas, with poor transport links (the nearest bus stop is 800 metres away).
Although a school is near, the group argues that it is full to capacity.
Mr Mann argues that the council is using information selectively to make a case for the travellers site. He said that in the site assessment, Fferm Goch is listed as the local settlement, when it should be Llangan.
Furthermore, he argues that Fferm Goch has been treated as an area where there are employment opportunities, on the basis of four light industrial buildings.
He said: “Traders in those units have told me that they have made their own enquiries and agree that this site is against Welsh Government guidelines. They are concerned because those guidelines say that the mixing of permanent and transient Travellers has a history of causing anti-social behaviour
Another member of the action group, Dave Hammond, said: “We have been out knocking on doors in local villages such as Craig Penllyne and Treoes, and we already have more than 200 signatures on a petition.”
Richard Mann added: “Llangan Action is not a group that seeks to discriminate against the travelling community, and our objections are based on the nonsense of the scale of the site, its location, and the fact that the Gypsy and travelling community do not want to be isolated or discriminated against”.
Leicester's big fat Gypsy U-turn Trusted
From the Leicester Mercury
Plans to create three Traveller camps have gone back to the drawing board following a storm of public anger.
Some 350 sites across Leicester are now being considered as potential alternatives to those proposed on the northern edge of the city.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "I'm determined that new permanent Traveller sites will be created in the city.
"But I'm open-minded and if there are better areas in the city for these sites then I'll consider them."
The city council announced plans last month for pitches in Greengate Lane, Red Hill Way and Beaumont Way.
The sites would have catered for about 26 families between them and were whittled down from a list of 350 plots of council-owned land.
But mounting anger culminated in Sir Peter – who will make the final decision – facing more than 600 people at a volatile public meeting.
Scores of residents told him that they were opposed to the plans.
The list of 350 sites will now be handed to councillors, who will examine whether any areas could be more suitable.
The council said it would publish a list of the sites within the coming days.
The consultation process will also be extended by three months, to July 13.
People living close to the three proposed sites said they were relieved that the plans could change.
John McCaffrey, 50, who lives near Beaumont Way, said: "I'm glad that the mayor still has an open mind.
"People round here are really worried about the impact a Gypsy camp would have on the area and the council needs to listen to what we have to say.
"We don't want three camps in this one part of the city and we think other areas should be considered, to spread them around."
Ian Jones, 30, who lives near the Red Hill Way site, said: "I don't believe that out of 350 sites across the city this one, right next to the flyover, is the best.
"Once the full list is published, the public can make the case for the council to use alternative sites. A rethink is the right thing to do."
His 40-year-old neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "We've already got problems with congestion and new residents will make it worse.
"I want to see the list of alternative sites, to see whether any of them would be better at coping with a new site."
A woman, who lives near Greengate Lane, said: "The mayor is right to think again.
"This proposed site is already used by Gypsies and Travellers illegally, so it makes no sense for the council to legitimise it by creating a camp on the site."
The Travellers would mostly be temporary tenants, paying rent, council tax and charges for gas, electricity and water.
If approved, the camps would be set up using more than £1.5 million of Government cash.
Sir Peter said: "Although our aim was to have these much-needed sites in place as soon as possible, the funding will still be available to us if we extend our search and consultation to ensure we have been as thorough as we possibly can."
Plans to create three Traveller camps have gone back to the drawing board following a storm of public anger.
Some 350 sites across Leicester are now being considered as potential alternatives to those proposed on the northern edge of the city.
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said: "I'm determined that new permanent Traveller sites will be created in the city.
"But I'm open-minded and if there are better areas in the city for these sites then I'll consider them."
The city council announced plans last month for pitches in Greengate Lane, Red Hill Way and Beaumont Way.
The sites would have catered for about 26 families between them and were whittled down from a list of 350 plots of council-owned land.
But mounting anger culminated in Sir Peter – who will make the final decision – facing more than 600 people at a volatile public meeting.
Scores of residents told him that they were opposed to the plans.
The list of 350 sites will now be handed to councillors, who will examine whether any areas could be more suitable.
The council said it would publish a list of the sites within the coming days.
The consultation process will also be extended by three months, to July 13.
People living close to the three proposed sites said they were relieved that the plans could change.
John McCaffrey, 50, who lives near Beaumont Way, said: "I'm glad that the mayor still has an open mind.
"People round here are really worried about the impact a Gypsy camp would have on the area and the council needs to listen to what we have to say.
"We don't want three camps in this one part of the city and we think other areas should be considered, to spread them around."
Ian Jones, 30, who lives near the Red Hill Way site, said: "I don't believe that out of 350 sites across the city this one, right next to the flyover, is the best.
"Once the full list is published, the public can make the case for the council to use alternative sites. A rethink is the right thing to do."
His 40-year-old neighbour, who did not wish to be named, said: "We've already got problems with congestion and new residents will make it worse.
"I want to see the list of alternative sites, to see whether any of them would be better at coping with a new site."
A woman, who lives near Greengate Lane, said: "The mayor is right to think again.
"This proposed site is already used by Gypsies and Travellers illegally, so it makes no sense for the council to legitimise it by creating a camp on the site."
The Travellers would mostly be temporary tenants, paying rent, council tax and charges for gas, electricity and water.
If approved, the camps would be set up using more than £1.5 million of Government cash.
Sir Peter said: "Although our aim was to have these much-needed sites in place as soon as possible, the funding will still be available to us if we extend our search and consultation to ensure we have been as thorough as we possibly can."
Come to Travellers Solidarity Network - Leighton Buzzard
From the Leighton Buzzard Observer
CONTROVERSIAL Christchurch Bushmead vicar Martin Burrell, 61, is hosting a talk by the Travellers Solidarity Network, (TSN) a group formed in the aftermath of the Dale Farm evictions.
It will be held at Beech Hill Methodist Church, Dunstable Road, Luton at 6.30pm on Tuesday (March 27).
TSN describe themselves as a direct action network dedicated to fighting ethnicity, persecution and class-based discrimination against \Travellers, Roma and Gypsies.
They are taking the TSN roadshow round the country to raise awareness of their plight, particularly with regard to the provision of sites.
Rev Burrell, who has written a book entitled The Pure in Heart - An Epistle for the Romanies, is in a unique position to help. He is the St Alban’s diocesan chaplain to GYpsies, Travellers and Roma and started a Romani church at Bushmead last May.
“We have had funding from the Allder Trust and the Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation,” he said.
“We meet every Wednesday and it’s going really well.”
The church website describes the group as “just a mustard seed right now” but Rev Burrell – a former professional clarinettist - added: “God is kindling a living faith in some Romanian Roma here in Luton.”
He is encouraging his congregation to join a befriending scheme with suggestions of how they can help the travelling community.
These include reading and explaining official letters, registering families with GPs and contacting various agencies regarding schooling, health, accommodation, employment and benefit matters.
For more information email martin@christchurch-bushmead.org.uk
CONTROVERSIAL Christchurch Bushmead vicar Martin Burrell, 61, is hosting a talk by the Travellers Solidarity Network, (TSN) a group formed in the aftermath of the Dale Farm evictions.
It will be held at Beech Hill Methodist Church, Dunstable Road, Luton at 6.30pm on Tuesday (March 27).
TSN describe themselves as a direct action network dedicated to fighting ethnicity, persecution and class-based discrimination against \Travellers, Roma and Gypsies.
They are taking the TSN roadshow round the country to raise awareness of their plight, particularly with regard to the provision of sites.
Rev Burrell, who has written a book entitled The Pure in Heart - An Epistle for the Romanies, is in a unique position to help. He is the St Alban’s diocesan chaplain to GYpsies, Travellers and Roma and started a Romani church at Bushmead last May.
“We have had funding from the Allder Trust and the Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation,” he said.
“We meet every Wednesday and it’s going really well.”
The church website describes the group as “just a mustard seed right now” but Rev Burrell – a former professional clarinettist - added: “God is kindling a living faith in some Romanian Roma here in Luton.”
He is encouraging his congregation to join a befriending scheme with suggestions of how they can help the travelling community.
These include reading and explaining official letters, registering families with GPs and contacting various agencies regarding schooling, health, accommodation, employment and benefit matters.
For more information email martin@christchurch-bushmead.org.uk
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)