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Update, Criticism, & Consequences of Government Policies for Gypsy & Travell

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Update, Criticism, & Consequences of Government Policies for Gypsy & Traveller Communities

 

Mr Pickles, the Communities Secretary has issued guidance advising councils to be on their guard over the long Easter and Royal Wedding bank holidays, when local authorities will be shut for all but three days of an 11 day period.

The warning comes as he issues new rules for councils, giving them greater powers to prevent travellers setting up camps, particularly on greenfield sites.

Mr Pickles said:

"It’s time for fair play in the planning system – standing up for those who play by the rules and tougher action for those who abuse and play the system. We are giving councils the power and discretion to protect the environment and help rebuild community relations. A small minority may still try to abuse the system. Councils should be particularly vigilant over the extended Royal Wedding and Easter weekends to take firm action against anyone who tries.”

The Communities Secretary is scrapping nationally set quotas for the number of traveller sites which authorities must provide, saying that this should be left to local people in future.

He believes that setting targets is damaging to community relations, because local people could resent perceived special favours for traveller groups.

In future, the wider community should be involved in the discussions in determining the number of traveller sites to be provided.

Councils are also being allowed to resist retrospective planning applications submitted by gypsies and other home builders, and give more rights to enforce removal notice against those who act illegally.

Under the new guidelines, Mr Pickles said, local authorities would be under less pressure to compulsorily purchase land for traveller sites, with more discretion given to councils in how they handle the issue of gypsy encampments.

It is Mr Pickles opinion that travellers have been known in the past to take advantage of bank holidays to launch "land grabs”, setting up home on land which they do not have authorisation to camp on, and applying for retrospective planning permission once the council offices reopen. He thinks it is far harder for officials to remove a camp once it is set up, and authorities have often reluctantly granted permission for sites.

Mr Pickles also announced that the Department for Communities would provide Basildon Council, Essex with up to £1.2 million to help clear the "exceptional case” of a substantial unauthorised development on green belt land at a camp near Basildon called Dale Farm.

 

Please click to see original article:

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8446122/Eric-Pickles-gipsies-could-take-advantage-of-Royal-Wedding-bank-holiday-to-set-up-illegal-camps.html 

 

Meanwhile a critical letter was written to The Guardian in June 2010 by a variety of academics regarding the coalition government’s new policies for Gypsies & Travellers: -

 

The coalition government has arrived with a civil liberties agenda (Report, 28 May). But not for the UK's most deprived and discriminated-against minority ethnic group – Gypsies and Travellers. Already the government has reversed progressive policies giving incentives for local authorities to develop Gypsy and Traveller sites, by cuts announced in the Housing and Communities Agency budget, cancelling all next year's bids for sites.

The Conservatives announced plans to scrap planning and housing circulars which have started to give Gypsies and Travellers a "level playing field" in planning disputes with local authorities and planning inspectors. According to Eric Pickles, they want to revive the "Gypsy law" of criminal trespass. This discriminatory law was derided when Michael Howard campaigned on it in 2005.

Detailed research has identified targets for sites for Gypsies and Travellers, and yards for showmen. Many have been agreed with local authorities and progress was starting to be made. After years of inaction on sites a cumulative need has built up. The situation now is worse than ever and will only get worse without new provision. We face a future of more roadside and unauthorised encampments, leading to inevitable community conflict and enforcement costs to local council tax payers.

Gypsy and Traveller families have just 3,729 caravans on unauthorised sites in the whole of England, with a further 13,708 caravans on council and private sites (Caravan Count, July 2009) and "It is estimated that the entire Gypsy and Traveller population could be legally accommodated if as little as one square mile of land were allocated for sites in England" (EHRC, March 2009). We are calling on the government to think again on its policies and stick to progressive programmes based on civil liberties and fairness.

 

This letter was signed by a large number of academics.

Please click to read original article:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jun/04/equality-liberal-conservative-coalition


 Meanwhile on 28 March 2011 www.foreignersinuk.co.uk published an article regarding the inclusion of the Gypsy and Traveller Community in to the Big Society

 Negative media coverage prevents

communities from integrating in to

the Big Society

Harmit Athwal from the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) says the report, `A Big or Divided Society’ is based on hearings earlier this year in parliament funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.

At the hearings, Gypsies, Travellers, service providers, legal and academic experts presented evidence on the implications of proposed government policy.

The hearings covered the themes of accommodation planning, enforcement, health, children, and welfare and education issues related to accommodation.

The concerns expressed during the hearing included the fact that site construction would come to a standstill with the removal of central government obligations for the development of Traveller sites.

The concern that local referendum could be used to block the construction of Traveller sites was also raised.

It was also considered that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities could be stopped from integrating into the Big Society as a result of the negative media coverage and the lack of constituted community groups. Besides this, key health and education services for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers were being threatened by the cuts. Vital health and education services for Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are under threat by the cuts.

These are some of the concerns raised by academics, lawyers and campaigners who have come out with a report on the coalition government's policy on the communities.

A key expert in the field, Lord Avebury told the Institute of Race Relations News, Eric Pickles, the minister responsible for Gypsies and Travellers has torn up the strategy that had been developed over the last six years of the previous government, disregarding Liberal Democrat policy of keeping the target numbers of pitches.

Now, it's up to every individual local authority to decide how much land it will allocate for Gypsy sites and it is thought that most of them will scale down the numbers or eliminate them altogether as in the case of London.

At the same time they are encouraging local authorities to evict Gypsies from unauthorised sites causing an enormous cost in bailiffs and police. And the pupil premium, intended to help disadvantaged children, will leave out many Gypsy children who don't attend school because their families have been evicted and they are then forced to live on the roadside.

Susan Alexander from the Travellers Aid Trust believes for a number of years there were sustained efforts by politicians and councils across the political spectrum to work in partnership with Gypsy Roma Traveller communities and improve their access to services, make them part of the community and reduce tensions.

Genuine fears have now been expressed in the newly released report "A Big or Divided Society” that the Localism Bill currently passing through parliament could mean greater local opposition to gypsy and traveller sites and services for this minority and are in opposition to the Big Society ideals.

Please click to see the original article:

http://www.foreignersinuk.co.uk/news-cuts_threaten_health_education_serv...

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