Memorandum by the Gypsy Council (GTS 43)
The Gypsy Council is a fully constituted, democratically
run organisation with a written constitution, equal opportunities
policy and regular open minuted meetings whose executive and committee
are elected at the Annual General Meeting held each April. The
operation of the organisation is managed by the elected committee
on a completely voluntary basis with the assistance of a part
time paid administrative assistant. Primarily a Gypsy organisation,
The Gypsy Council acknowledges the rights of all Travelling people
to a nomadic way of life and works with all those representative
groups and organisations who area willing to work with it and
each other towards a common aim; to stamp out racism and bigotry,
to gain equal rights for Gypsy and Travelling people with the
provision of a legal place to live, access to education and health
care and respect and enhancement of their culture and way of life.
The organisation operates on membership subscriptions,
donations and funding from other charitable organisations with
which it provides an information service to its members, National
and Local Government, social services, education services, students,
the media and other interested statutory and non statutory bodies.
It provides help and support to individuals experiencing difficulties
and hardship as a direct result of being a Gypsy or Traveller.
It works with both Local Authorities and Government Departments
towards improving policy and legislation in respect of Gypsy and
Traveller people and is involved in awareness training so that
both Gypsy and non-Gypsy people can begin to understand both their
differences and similarities and learn to live together.
The Gypsy Council also works within Europe.
Its Chair, Charles Smith is the UK representative to the UN and
its President Sonnie Gibbard works with the Roma people in the
Eastern European countries. The next meeting of the Romani Union
will probably be in Bucharest.
The Gypsy Council said in 1993-94 when the Government
removed the duty to provide sites in its Criminal Justice and
Public Order Act, that the level of site provision would plummet
and it has. We are losing the equivalent of 200 pitches (homes)
every year as sites are run down and closed in such as Harrow
and Enfield. In other areas like Barnet and Bristol where residential
sites were never built, these authorities will not now be brought
to book for not complying with the 1968 Caravan Sites Act. The
Government research said two years ago that some 2,000 residential
and 2,500 transit pitches (homes) are needed for England and we
would suggest that another 2,000 pitches at least are needed for
Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Local authorities seem only
interested in providing transit sites which while necessary for
some movement do not and cannot replace the need for stable properly
built long term residential sites.
We really cannot afford the luxury of any further
delays. More and more Gypsy and Traveller children are going to
experience violent evictions, whilst they see their parents treated
with disrespect by those in authority and by the settled population.
They will lack the basic essentials of education and through social
exclusion will miss out on the positive learning and social interaction
usually experienced during these most impressionable years. This
also actively keeps the distance and the lack of contact and knowledge
of each others culture that fuels racism.
In view of the need for positive action now,
The Gypsy Council would want to see the following:
(1) A moratorium on evictions on private
sites.
(2) A duty to provide adequate and sufficient
sites for those who need caravan sites.
(3) Equality by putting Gypsy and Traveller
families' needs into mainstream policy development.
(4) Equality in planning, use of land and
the need for family accommodation.
1. A MORATORIUM
This is essential because the powers for police
in the Anti Social Behaviour Act 2003 are being used when it is
patently obvious that there are not enough sites. In particular
evictions of families on private sites which do not have planning
permission. The eviction in Chelmsford was a private site and
the families were told that there were places in Epsom, Surry.
There were no places in Epsom. The mob-handed eviction with hundreds
of bailiffs and police in riot gear and circulating helicopter
saw caravans (homes) damaged whilst being dragged off the site.
Later some caravans (homes) were fire damaged; earth mounds were
built to prevent access to the site which was sprayed with pig
slurry making it unusable. This would just not happen if the land
did not belong to Gypsy and Traveller people. Until there are
enough sites for Gypsy and Traveller families to occupy, these
evictions must stop.
2. A DUTY TO
PROVIDE
Few if any local authorities have obeyed Government
requirements under 1/94 to put land use needs for Gypsy and Traveller
families into their Structure Plans and into the District Planning
Development. Gypsy and Traveller families are seen by Local Authorities
as such a tiny group that there is no real need to include them.
This has to be challenged and changed otherwise the Government
is simply agreeing with the racism. Few Authorities have a policy
under the Homelessness Act. Few have a policy under the Race Relations
Amendment Act.
The Commission for Racial Equality are pushing
Firle District Council to get their Race Policy organised after
the Bonfire Society's parading of an effigy of a Gypsy caravan
through the village and burning it after a racist speech from
a local councillor. They need to get this organised before they
can get on with the matter of building positive relationships
between the different groups. 12 people, including the councillor
are being charged with incitement to racial hatred.
Bristol has a draft policy on unauthorised encampments
which will be going to full council in June which says "unauthorised
encampments will not be tolerated. They will be responded to with
prompt and proportionate intervention." Why has Bristol come
to this conclusion, even though there is only a transit site and
NO INTENTION OF PROVIDING FURTHER SITES? Because in the view of
the officers "Existing and proposed Government policy and
legislation are based on the premise that unauthorised camping
is wrong." (our emphasis). These are the Governments own
words from all speeches in 2001-02 where it was determined to
blame everything on the Gypsy people for what was said to be bad
behaviour.
Currently there are insufficient local authority
resident caravan sites where Gypsy and Traveller families can
rent a plot for the medium/long term. There are some 330 such
sites (down from 360) which is a considerable short fall on the
present need. Essex for instance in July 2003 had 451 families
without a place to site their caravans. That is a considerable
number and it will take political courage to get land, planning
permission and then money to build each site. Whilst the provision
of local authority caravan sites for Gypsy and Traveller families
comes under the duty of that local authority, the political will
to build such sites will not be there as the councillors will
continue to pander to the racist views of some of its electorate.
The duty to provide must come direct from central Government thereby
taking this political pressure off local authorities but whilst
the discussions go on, it would be helpful if the Government would
enforce the existing legislation.
The Government must also lead by example and
not give authorities like Bristol above the words to provide excuses
not to provide sites. Also rather than it being acceptable to
say "unauthorised camping is wrong" we should all be
saying "constant eviction of families with nowhere to live"
is wrong.
3. EQUALITY IN
MAINSTREAM POLICY
DEVELOPMENT
The Gypsy and Traveller people cannot buy their
freedom or rights by denying others their freedom. It is therefore
important that others who wish to live in caravans, whether they
are Gypsy families or not should be able to do so. Caravan sites
are cheaper to build than houses, they are less damaging to the
environment and they respond better to the fast movement of today.
It is becoming usual to move job and house every three to five
years. The population is becoming more mobile and the use of land
is becoming of concern. Increased risk of flooding is exacerbated
by building of roads and houses, the concrete and impermeable
surfaces prevent rain from soaking into the ground; more goes
down the drains and into the rivers.
We do not want ghettos and reservations; we
want to be able to live in harmony with other people. Our old
people do not want to have to move into a house when they are
ailing; they need their family even more so at this time of their
lives. Where there is housing there should be the possibility
a caravan site. If it is for ANYONE then it will encourage good
relations and improve standards for everyone.
At the moment, most sites are DIRE, run down,
badly built from bad designs and very often badly managed. There
are no standard site rules and regulations and often these are
draconian and sometimes tyrannical, some local authorities to
get sites off their hands will allow less than desirable people/organisations
to manage their sites and in Milton Keynes, the sites are managed
by the police. We would hope to see sites managed by approved
and registered social landlords such as NOVAS who, as a Housing
Association have brought new and improved standards of design
and site management. We would encourage such moves and would like
to see positive steps towards the training and education of local
authority members and officers.
Unlike other council tenants, Gypsy and Traveller
site residents are only licensed and do not have a tenancy agreement.
This gives these families no security of a place to stay. Subsequently,
they unlike other council tenants do not have the "right
to buy" which prevents these families form getting onto the
property ladder at a level they can afford.
Anti social behaviour is not used for the provision
or lack of provision for social housing, yet the behaviour of
some Gypsy and Traveller people is used as a reason for not building
sites. The Government is now talking about Mentors and help for
families with social problems, so should not Gypsy and Traveller
families get this Same support. The Government is to spend some
£3 billion providing solutions for failings in their local
authority housing and yet they are only spending a piddling £8
million on refurbishment and building of new Gypsy and Traveller
sites. As some 200 new sites are needed, this money is simply
not enough.
Gypsies are an ethnic minority under the 1976
Race Relations Amendment Act, yet they do not appear as a separate
heading under the Census. Numbers are calculated via Local Authority
caravan counts which are accepted by all to be inaccurate. So
Gypsy and Traveller people are either a number derived from a
dubious count of vehicles or are classed under an anti social
or criminal group of society. This is totally unacceptable. The
Government and Local Authorities must simply list Gypsy and Traveller
families amongst the list of "local people" then there
is no need for "exceptions" and all can be treated equally.
We do not want to be exceptions; "special
treatment" has ghastly memories attached to it. It is our
belief that ANYONE who wants to live in a caravan should be able
to do so, without bigotry having any place in the situation. As
it is, there are over 2,000 mobile homes on Parks, providing families
with cheap housing. Generally, these Parks will not accept a Gypsy
or Traveller family, however "respectable" they are,
so only non-Gypsy families can use that particular facility. This
is racism and the Government should tackle it. The Caravan and
Camping Club accepts Gypsy members and thereby lets them use its
camping sites. The Caravan Club however currently does not accept
Gypsy members (again racism the Government should tackle). It
is worth noting that both these clubs have special dispensation
under planning laws which allows them to have up to five caravans
on their sites without the need for planning permission.
Allowing Gypsy and Traveller people to use these
sites could help to provide a breathing space as transit provision
whilst transit and residential sites are built and more private
sites are allowed This would only work however if the Government
agreed to the moratorium and put a stop on evictions.
4. EQUALITY IN
PLANNING
Although research from various sources differs
slightly, on average, over 90% of planning applications submitted
by Gypsy and Traveller families are refused whereas only about
10% of all other applications fail. Even at the appeal stage,
less than 40% of Gypsy and Traveller application are approved.
There are a number of factors behind this appalling imbalance;
not least of these is racism. Racism not only from some of the
council members and officers, but from some of the more vociferous
of the settled population who object to the plans and as such
put political pressure on the council to refuse permission. Other
more policy/legislation based reasons are that there is not one
local authority which identifies the land use needs of Gypsy and
Traveller in its local plan. Those that do include Gypsies and
Travellers have criteria based policies that are virtually impossible
to meet. Planning legislation does not allow Gypsy Sites to be
built under any of its land use designations, which now includes
the Green Belt where at one time, "under very special circumstances",
Gypsy sites were very occasionally allowed, only with added conditions
which were usually very restrictive. A Gypsy Site basically seeks
planning permission for one or more caravans. A caravan is a form
of accommodation, the same as housing. We believe that if land
is designated for residential use, then if a house can be put
there, so can a caravan. Caravans are an environmentally suitable
form of accommodation and should be considered as such by the
Government and not viewed as sub standard or temporary accommodation
as they are now. Anything else is inequality. We believe that
"Gypsy" eventually be removed from ALL legislation.
No other ethnic group has to suffer the indignity of being separated
and segregated in this way.
IN CONCLUSION
The Gypsy Council believes that the right to
a reasonable choice of type of accommodation, and the right to
stable and secure family residence within cultural tradition are
human rights that all people, regardless of ethnicity, should
enjoy. The Gypsy Council believes therefore that well managed
and designed caravan sites should in principle be allowed to be
built on any land which is zoned for residential purposes. If
however planning permission for caravan sites is to be restricted,
priority should be given to those who travel as part of their
occupation or economic, cultural or social way of life.
At the same time The Gypsy Council calls on
the Commission for Racial Equality and on the police to ensure
that anti-discrimination laws are fully applied to end the present
discrimination against Gypsy and Traveller groups in access to
residential and touring caravan sites, and in the operation of
the planning process. It calls on the Government fully to acknowledge
the traditional ethnicity of Gypsy and Travelling groups within
its policies for anti-racism, inclusion and diversity.
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