HB 15
National Assembly for Wales
Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee
Housing (Wales)
Bill: Stage 1
4TH
FLOOR, RUSKIN CHAMBERS, 191 CORPORATION STREET, BIRMINGHAM, B4
6RP | DX 23525 Birmingham 3
T:
0121 685 8595 | F: 0121 236
5121 | Email:
office@communitylawpartnership.co.uk
Website:
www.communitylawpartnership.co.uk
Introduction
- The Community Law Partnership (CLP)
is a radical, progressive firm of solicitors specialising in the
law relating to Housing and Public Law. CLP incorporates the
Travellers Advice Team (TAT) – a ground-breaking nationwide
24 hour advice service for Gypsies and Travellers. TAT advises and
represents Gypsies and Travellers throughout England and Wales and
has taken some of the leading cases in this area of the law. Since
our only work in Wales is Gypsy and Traveller work we will only
comment on those particular parts of the Housing (Wales) Bill
(hereafter ‘the Bill’).
- The Bill introduces provisions with
regard to Gypsies and Travellers at clauses 84 to 89.
- Clauses 84 and 85 concern the duty
on local authorities to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies
and Travellers and include a system of approval by the Welsh
Ministers.
- Crucially clause 86 introduces a
duty to meet assessed needs, stating:
(1) If a
local housing authority’s approved assessment identifies
needs within the authority’s area with respect to the
provision of sites on which mobile homes may be stationed the
authority must exercise its powers in section 56 of the Mobile
Homes (Wales) Act 2013 (power of authorities to provide sites for
mobile homes) so far as may be necessary to meet those
needs.
- The Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013
section 56 states:
(1) A local
authority may within its area provide sites where mobile homes may
be brought, whether for holidays or other temporary purposes or for
use as permanent residences, and may manage the sites or lease them
to another person.
- Clause 87 of the Bill provides,
equally crucially, for a power of direction by the Welsh Ministers
if a local authority has not complied with the duty under clause
86.
- Clause 88 introduces a duty on
local authorities to provide relevant information required by the
Welsh Ministers and clause 89 relates to Housing Strategies.
- CLP congratulates the Welsh
Government on the introduction of these provisions which we fully
support. These provisions are vital in order to finally resolve the
problem of unauthorised encampments and developments. These
provisions make complete financial sense in doing away with all the
vast costs involved in dealing with unauthorised encampments and
developments (see, for example, Morris & Clements At what
cost? The cost of managing unlawful Gypsy encampments, Policy
Press, 2002).
Lessons from the
past
- It appears that all main political
parties are in agreement that the solution to problems arising from
unauthorised encampments and unauthorised developments lies in
ensuring that there is adequate authorised permanent and transit
site provision for Gypsies and Travellers. However the Westminster
Government have made serious errors which have thwarted the
provision of new sites. The lack of sites also has disastrous knock
on effects in terms of education, healthcare and economic
opportunities (see Niner Accommodation needs of Gypsy-Travellers
in Wales, Welsh Assembly Government, 2006).
- The Caravan Sites Act (CSA) 1968
introduced a duty on local authorities to provide sites for Gypsies
and Travellers (brought into force in 1970). It was eventually
repealed by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994.
It is true to say that the vast majority of the 350 local authority
Gypsy and Traveller sites that currently exist would probably not
have been developed without the existence of that duty. However,
it is also right to point out that successive central
governments failed to ensure that all local authorities complied
with the duty and, thus, too few sites were built during this
period of time to meet the needs of the Gypsy and Traveller
population in England and Wales.
- The Department of the
Environment Circular 01/94 (Welsh Office Circular 02/94) Gypsy
Sites and Planning was issued at the time of the repeal of the
statutory duty to make site provision and placed the emphasis on
the provision of private sites. It gave each local authority the
responsibility for assessing the accommodation needs of Gypsies and
Travellers in its area and identifying land which would meet those
needs in its Local Plan. However, few if any local authorities
complied with the policy requirement and as a consequence the
shortage of site provision increased.
- Research has shown that, in this
period of time, some 90% of planning applications made to local
authority planning committees by Gypsies and Travellers were
unsuccessful (Confined, Constrained and Condemned, Friends,
Families and Travellers (FFT), 1996). In a later study by FFT
(Planning Appeals Gypsies and Travellers, January 1998) it
was shown that only 34% of appeals to Planning Inspectors by
Gypsies and Travellers against unsuccessful applications were
successful.
- By the time that the Niner report
Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller Sites in England was
published in 2003, it was estimated that between 1,000-2,000
permanent and 2,000-2,500 transit pitches were required by 2007
just to keep up with the Gypsy and Traveller population.
- Circular 01/94 was replaced in 2006
by the policy in Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM)
Circular 01/06 Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan
Sites. Circular 01/06 required each local authority to assess
the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in its area and
then report the findings to the regional planning body which would
then benchmark the assessment and indicate the number of pitches
that the local authority should make provision for in its
development plan. However, before it could have any significant
impact, Circular 01/06 was withdrawn in England by the DCLG
in March 2012 and replaced by Planning policy for traveller
sites (PPFTS). The new planning guidance gives each local
authority the ability to set its own target for site provision in
its area and, in the absence of any effective supervision by
central government, Gypsy and Traveller groups predict that local
authorities will do little to make additional site provision and
that the slight progress made under Circular 01/06 is likely to
grind to a halt. This is already becoming apparent throughout
England.
Conclusion
- The history of site provision in
England and Wales shows conclusively that the answer to the problem
lies in the kind of provisions which we find in sections 84 to 89
of the Bill and, once again, we fully support these
provisions.
Community Law
Partnership 12th January 2014