Government ‘cooked the books’ with consultation results for new planning rules for Gypsy and Traveller sites

The Government has been accused of “cooking the books” after an investigation by the Traveller Movement into the recent official consultation into the new Traveller site planning laws has revealed that they ignored an overwhelming response calling for the law to be dropped.

The consultation was for the new Planning Policy for Traveller Sites, which is described by Gypsy and Traveller campaigners as “dramatic and regressive” and which became law in August this year after the consultation ended.

The most controversial changes in the new law include redefining Gypsies and Travellers who have stopped travelling because of ill health or old age so they are no longer classed as Gypsies or Travellers. In addition the new rules have also stopped Gypsies and Travellers from using the failure of councils to plan for Traveller sites as a valid reason to pass applications for Traveller sites in the green belt.

After becoming suspicious about Government claims that the consultation on the new rules where welcomed by “many” of the respondents, the Traveller Movement used Freedom of Information laws to force the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to make the results of the consultation public.

The information provided by the DCLG to the Traveller Movement revealed that the vast majority of respondents - 506 in total - disagreed with the definition change compared to just 181 who agreed with it.

In addition, the DCLG response revealed that a significant number of Local, Unitary and County Councils also disagreed with the changes, amounting to 37 against and 49 in support. In the case of Unitary Authorities a majority (8 out of the 15 who responded) were actually against the planning changes.

Talking to The Travellers’ Times, A spokesperson for the Traveller Movement congratulated the ‘We still Count’ campaign launched by the London Gypsy and Traveller Unit when the consultation was announced earlier in the year which hugely contributed to the consultation results against the new rules. He added that although the Government ignored the results of the consultation, the results would be useful in the ongoing campaign to get the law dropped.

The online ‘We Still Count’ campaign encouraged Gypsies and Travellers to respond to the consultation by using special postcards and the results uncovered by the Traveller Movement have revealed that a whopping 398 where sent in calling for the definition change to be dropped.

Matthew Brindley, speaking for the Traveller Movement, said: “DCLGs response to our Freedom of Information request reveals the wide body of support, including councils and experts in the field, who disagree with the Government’s dramatic and regressive new changes to Planning Policy for Traveller Sites.”

“Even more significantly it lays bare the Governments attempts to cook the figures considering the vast majority of respondents to its consultation disagreed with changing the definition of who Travellers are for the purposes of planning.”

“The last time the Government consulted on Planning Policy for Traveller Sites in 2012 it quite happily disclosed the number of respondents because a majority of them agreed with its proposals. This time the Government knowingly withheld that information in full knowledge that the vast majority of respondents disagreed with its proposals. In short this makes a mockery of the consultation process and will potentially drive thousands of Gypsies and Travellers back on the road and back into hardship.” 

The campaign against the new changes continues with plans for a rally outside Parliament sometime in spring next year and two legal challenges by Gypsy and Traveller clients represented by lawyers from Community Law Partnership – the Traveller planning specialists – in the pipeline.