The Conservatives’ action plan to protect towns and villages against illegal Gypsy and Traveller sites has been lambasted as “unrealistic” and “unnecessary” by Liberal Democrat peer Lord Avebury.

In a policy document, called Travellers: Action to Safeguard Local Communities, the Tories pledged to review the Human Rights Act to ensure it cannot be used by the travelling community to occupy land illegally.

They would also give councils powers to seize and remove caravans illegally sited and grant local authorities the right to purchase land compulsorily if a stop notice – a document that prohibits development – is breached.

The document, published on 18 October, also said the Conservatives would scrap new government legislation requiring local authorities to allocate land to be purchased specifically by the travelling community and would instead “let local people decide” where sites should be allocated.

However, the party made no suggestions about where travelling communities should go once they had been evicted.

Lord Avebury, secretary of the all-party parliamentary group for Traveller law reform, said: “Where are Gypsies and Travellers meant to go if no provision is made for them?

“The reason why the Human Rights Act is being invoked by Gypsies and Travellers is because there is nowhere for them to go.”

He added: “This is simply pre-election propaganda.”

Source

Housing Today

Postscript

Local authorities are now required to recognise the needs of the travelling community and to develop strategies to meet those requirements, under a section of the Housing Act, which received royal assent last Thursday.