The Housing Act 2004 states all councils have a duty to assess the needs of gypsies and travellers in their districts. It also states councils should assess housing need for travellers and gypsies in the same way they do for people in settled communities.
This housing need assessment is called a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) and Babergh completed theirs in May 2007 in conjunction with five other Suffolk local authorities. At the time of the GTAA, Babergh and Suffolk Coastal were the only two district councils not to have any dedicated sites for Gypsy and Travellers.
The East of England Regional Assemblies regional policy for gypsy and traveller pitch provision was published in July 2009, by the Communities and Local Government department, to ensure adequate provision was made across the entire region.
This new policy is based on the levels of need identified, and supersedes Babergh’s own housing need assessment. It requires the Council to deliver 15 pitches across the district by 2011. It has also stated that a further 13 pitches would need to be delivered by 2021.
Babergh is now in the process of planning and implementing its strategy for delivering this requirement within the timetable mentioned above.
What has Babergh done?
Babergh’s Strategy Committee approved the establishment of a Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Working Group in July 2009 and this includes two Members of Strategy Committee.
Councillors Sue Wigglesworth and John Hinton were appointed to these posts.
This group was set the task of establishing a set of criteria and a process for identifying and securing the delivery of suitable pitches for Gypsies and Travellers, and to produce a delivery plan and timetable for the delivery of these. This has been completed and approved by Strategy Committee in April 2010.
The Secretary of State recommended that various methods of securing provision should be utilised and these include using rural exceptions site policies, through affordable housing provision on land allocated for housing development and through individual planning applications. All these methods will be utilised, and were included in the procedure which Strategy Committee recently approved.
What has happened in relation the latest Government announcement?
Last week (wk beginning May 31, 2010) the Government announced that Regional Spatial Strategies (RSS) – like the one Babergh’s Gypsy and Traveller provision of 15 pitches has been based on – were being scrapped. It is not yet known if the abolition of RSS’s is retrospective or not. Officers are waiting to receive confirmation of this.
The above announcement was coupled with further information also received from the Homes & Communities Agency last week, which stated that all available funding for Gypsy and Traveller pitch provision was to be deleted.
If the current RSS is abolished this will effect the number of pitches we deliver. However, if the current RSS survives we will need to deliver the 15 pitch requirement that has been set for Babergh and will need to continue with our current action plan.
What were Babergh planning to do next?
Officers were planning to follow the process agreed by April’s Strategy meeting, which was to establish in more detail the need of Gypsies and Travellers – where pitches should be located, how many are required in each location, and whether these will be owned or rented by Gypsies and Travellers. Land will then need to be identified and secured in appropriate locations.
Until more detail is received from Government, this work has been put on hold.
Babergh is continuing to work closely with neighbouring authorities and Suffolk County Council – as well as parish councils, landowners and members of the gypsy and traveller communities – but will cutting down on the frequency of meetings planned.
Throughout this process, Babergh wished to engage with Parish Councils and all members of the local community to ensure we communicated effectively about the work we were planning to do.
Babergh also wanted to help people to understand the lifestyle and culture of Gypsies and Travellers, and by doing this ensuring the links between the settled community and Gypsies and Travellers are based on accurate information and not the distorted negative image often portrayed by the media.
Officers have and are continuing to make links with the local Gypsy and Traveller community.
The district has a long history of Gypsies and Travellers visiting and living in the area. Historically this was to work on local farms, but many have settled in the area.
Officers are still welcoming contact with any Gypsy or Traveller who lives in the district or who has a connection with it so that their accommodation needs can be taken into account. If any Members are aware of such a person within their ward, please feel free to pass that information on.
This information will now be kept on file until further details mean the correct course of action is taken by Babergh.
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