Last month in the Commons, I stepped up the pressure on travellers by asking if the villages around Harlow would be free in the future to set their own level of travellers' pitches.
I said to Rural Affairs Secretary, Caroline Spelman:
"Epping Forest has 20 per cent of all travellers pitches in the east of England, over 80 per cent of which are in Nazeing or Roydon in my constituency. Can the Minister reassure my constituents that local communities will now be free to choose how many travellers pitches they accept rather than having them imposed from Whitehall?"
Under the last Labour Government, Whitehall railroaded through new pitches, and totally ignored the wishes of local residents.
With Dale Farm in Basildon, this is continues to be a major issue for Essex.
Following my intervention, and that of a number of othet MPs and hard-pressed local Councils the Government has published new proposed planning guidance for travellers.
The new planning regime will mean the abolition of top-down regional targets with councils able to plan for traveller site provision in a "locally-led way, reflecting historic demand". 'Methodology' will be a matter for local discretion.
It also proposes:
1) Strengthening protection of the Green Belt and open countryside - Labour's guidance on pressuring councils to compulsory purchase land for traveller sites has been deleted. Stronger consideration and weight is now given to the protection of local amenity and the local environment.
2) Helping councils in planning enforcement cases - In addition, the Localism Bill also contains provisions to tackle the abuse of retrospective planning permission. In due course, we will also amend secondary legislation to strengthen councils' powers to issue stop notices.
3) Taking measures to support councils in providing suitable, authorised sites. the Government has secured £60 million of grant funding for traveller sites over the Spending Review period, and the New Homes Bonus will provide a further incentive for site provision.
This is good news and long overdue. For a long time I have been concerned about the number of traveller pitches which are located in the villages like Nazeing and Roydon. It is time that local people should have a stronger say in where these pitches are located and how many can be allowed."
P.S. You can see further details on my blog HERE, or the formal Government documents can be found HERE.
From Isobel Urquhart.
ReplyDeleteIn a recent blog, Robert Halfon commented:
“Last month in the Commons, I stepped up the pressure on travellers” –
Should this not read, “I stepped up the pressure on Essex County Council and local councils to provide their full quota of pitches throughout the County”? Providing sufficient numbers of pitches throughout the county might allay some unnecessary fears in local communities.
Given that 80% of the 20% of Epping Forest pitches provided to Travellers is a very tiny percentage of that legal quota, should not Robert Halfon also be doing his very best to put this reassuring point to residents in local communities like Roydon and Nazeing, and equally working hard to allay the fears of Travellers that they are not welcome anywhere. I would welcome comment from one who isn’t afraid to remind us of the horrors of the Holocaust that he also remembers the extermination of the Gypsies in that same period and would therefore expect him to champion the rights of minority communities, and to encourage integration and a spirit of mutual understanding in Harlow and our nearby villages. As Robert points out, he is a member of the Select Committee about to enquire into the meaning and implications of the Big Society. Might this be an opportunity to put his considerable influence behind removing one of the last bastions of racism and prejudice in our country and to do his utmost to bring both communities closer together.
In the present spirit of mistrust, underfunding and unwillingness to welcome Travellers into the community, Robert’s question to the Minister seems to me extremely disingenuous: Can the Minister reassure my constituents that local communities will now be free to choose how many travellers’ pitches they accept rather than having them imposed from Whitehall?" I think I can guess how many travellers’ pitches local communities will choose.
As for the Traveller and Gypsy site at Dale Farm in Basildon, you omit to mention that 60% of the Travellers and Gypsies have licenses to be there, are residents of the site, pay council tax, send their children to school and do not want to be on the road travelling. As the President of the Traveller and Gypsy council, Richard Sheridan, said in a recent meeting in Harlow, times have changed and most travellers no longer want to be permanently on the road. Dale Farm Travellers’ Site will not go away, therefore..
At present, only 40% of the site is under threat of eviction. It should be noted – as with other hastily introduced government legislation - that the costs of this vindictive eviction have not been foreseen but will be substantial. Not only the cost of hiring bailiffs to carry out the eviction itself and the additional costs in policing that procedure – but the huge subsequent financial and social costs that will ensue as families are forced to go back on the road against their will, without a permanent address or the opportunity to hold down regular work, pitching wherever they can, with their children traumatised by the eviction process and no longer in schools.. These costs far outweigh the costs of allowing Travellers to remain on the site they purchased themselves, encouraged, as Robert points out, by a government that at least recognised that local communities rarely willingly ‘choose’ to accept traveller sites.