Welsh charity's Traveller site planning project forges ahead
“It has taken me a little while to adjust to being safe here. It helped us to have someone there for us who wasn't doing it to be paid, but because they really care. It's unusual for people to care about our community.”
A new charitable project in Wales is providing planning advice and support to Gypsy and Traveller families who wish to develop their own private sites to provide themselves with homes in the face of a failure by most Welsh councils to plan for or build enough pitches themselves.
The Travelling Ahead Community Planning Project, fully funded by the Welsh Government since September 2025 and with over a year left to run, has so far supported 38 families with the often confusing and labyrinth planning laws that are usually stacked against them.
“All Travellers go to a (council planning) committee - even if it's just one pitch. That's racism by itself," said an Irish Traveller* who has been supported by the Community Planning Project.
The Travellers Times spoke to Lynne Garnett, who coordinates the project for Travelling Ahead.
Garnett, who is a Welsh New Traveller and has gone through the planning process herself to develop her own site, told us that the advice and support was free to all Welsh Gypsies and Travellers, and they were taking on new clients and cases at the rate of one a week.
“We provide explanations about the planning process given in plain accessible language as to what happens and when, and clients supported to understand the process,” said Garnett.
This includes, says Garnet, supporting statements provided for planning applications providing context of people’s backgrounds and the family’s need, Incidents of discrimination tackled through complaints process, and support provided at appeals, planning committees, wherever required.
Garnett adds that Travelling Ahead can also run a pre-planning application and put clients in touch with qualified and trusted Gypsy/Traveller planning consultant specialists which can establish whether their potential site is possible to develop, to save “throwing money” at a site that will never get planning.
“It makes you feel like a fool as you don’t understand the words,” said one Romany Gypsy client from South Wales. “It might as well be a foreign language (…) and we felt lucky to have (Travelling Ahead) explain it,“ they added.
“Speaking to the council makes you feel alien. It's so hard. You never feel like they are on your side.”
That is something that Garnett is trying to change – or at least make a dent in.
As part of the project Garnett is also contacting Welsh councils – there are 22 Welsh Local Planning Authorities – to try to pro-actively change the thinking of council officials and councillors, so they more understand the needs of Welsh Gypsies and Travellers.
Garnett says she has had meetings with planning officials from ten councils so far – and the results have been promising.
The support doesn’t end when a family manages to develop a home on a site and finally move in.
“We can help to set up the address, bins and follow- up with water applications, etc,” says Garnett. “We can also help with schools, doctors and making sure that (the family) has everything sorted.”
“It has taken me a little while to adjust to being safe here,” said one of the projects clients, a Romany Gypsy from South Wales.
“It helped us to have someone there for us who wasn't doing it to be paid, but because they really care. It's unusual for people to care about our community.”
To contact Lynne Garnett at the Travelling Ahead Community Planning Project:
Mobile: 07887 051842
Email: lynne.garnett@tgpcymru.org.uk
Facebook: Lynne Travelling Ahead
Freephone: 0808 800 025
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(Lead Image: Still from Turning Point video by Percy Dean)
*The quotes marked with an asterisk are direct quotes taken with the client's permission from the Project’s evaluation report