New revisions to government planning policy will make it easier for local and regional authorities to deliver much-needed Gypsy and Traveller specialist housing – but questions remain about how effectively they will be put into practice.
Two policy documents, a revised National Planning Policy Framework and a new version of the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites underwent consultation over the summer, and Gypsy and Traveller organisations including LGT joined with experienced lawyers and planners to respond. Last week the government published its revised policies.
“There are some great improvements, but serious concerns remain,” says Nancy Hawker, LGT’s Research and Policy Officer. “Too many local plans have been approved in London without Gypsies and Travellers’ needs for specialist housing being met for us to be complacent about the improvements in the National Planning Policy Framework, however welcome they may be.”
“For example, recent local plans from Brent and Southwark councils made no provisions for new pitches, despite urgent and evidenced need, and these plans were approved by the Planning Inspectorate.”
The revised planning regulations make it easier for local and regional authorities to deliver Gypsy and Traveller specialist housing in three ways:
- Applications for sites will be given extra weight in favour of approval in situations where the local authority has not provided a five-year supply of sites;
- There is no longer a presupposition that a pitch in “grey belt” areas of the Green Belt is rarely justified, regardless of the personal circumstances of the Gypsies and Travellers who apply for one;
- Planners’ definition of who counts as a Gypsy or a Traveller no longer requires Gypsies and Travellers to demonstrate that they have led a nomadic way of life and/or that they intend to live on the road again. It is enough to know that Gypsies and Travellers’ cultures and traditions involve nomadism and living in a caravan.
“This new inclusive definition aligns with policy in Wales, and removes one of the major barriers to the recognition of Gypsies and Travellers’ cultural preference for living in specialist housing such as pitches on sites,” said Nancy Hawker.
LGT’s Community Development and Campaigns Lead Tom Margetson said: “I am looking for assurances that plans will be subject to equality impact assessments, so that accommodation is provided to the groups with protected characteristics under the Equality Act. For a start, the government could show some respect for our peoples’ ethnicities (Irish Traveller and Romany Gypsy). Also, the use of capital letters when referring to Gypsies and Travellers should really be standard practice within official documents – it’s only fair.”
LGT will continue to monitor and comment on local needs assessments, plans and delivery, with the aim of promoting respect for cultural suitability as a key aspect of the right to adequate housing.
“What we need, now, is a demonstration of how the improved policies are put into practice,” said Nancy Hawker. “ We are looking to the national government to step in when local and regional authorities fail to deliver the pitches and sites that Gypsies and Travellers urgently need.”
“In London, housing campaigners are asking for an increase in the total proportion of social rented housing to a target of 35% of the total housing stock, and LGT is calling for 1% of that increase to be specialist housing for Gypsies and Travellers. Where targets are not met, it will be time to reintroduce legislation on the duty to provide adequate housing.”
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