73. There has been no official assessment of accommodation need for Gypsy/Traveller since the first Gypsy census in the mid 1960s. Assessment of accommodation should consider population growth and new household formation - which may be faster than in the settled community because Gypsies and Travellers tend to marry young, and have more children than the settled community. The extended family is of great importance to the community and many Gypsies and Travellers want to live within an extended family context.[66] Gypsy and Traveller preferences and current shortfalls in accommodation must also be considered. The main difficulty is the lack of information beyond the bi-annual Gypsy caravan count which, as discussed in chapter four, is widely viewed as inaccurate. There are no figures, for example, on the numbers of Gypsies and Travellers who travel between the Republic of Ireland and Great Britain. Some assessment of the numbers is needed because of the impact on accommodation provision. The Republic of Ireland conducted a census of the traveller community. The level of provision made by each County is dependent on the figures recorded in the census. Officials we met in South Dublin County emphasised the influence of the census results on policy formation.

74. The Centre for Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Birmingham used the January 2002 count returns of Gypsy families to estimate the number of pitches that were required over the next five years.[67] They estimate that between 1,000 and 2,000 additional pitches are required on residential sites by 2005 (although they make no distinction between public and private site provision). The upper estimate assumes the need for additional pitches of up to a third of existing site provision; or 130 new sites with an average of 15 pitches each, based on no expansion of exiting sites. The lower estimate could be met by expansion of all existing sites by two or three pitches. However the reality is that ODPM sponsored site refurbishments often lead to a reduction rather than expansion in the number of pitches on a site. Also, as we explore in Chapter eleven, some witnesses have suggested there should be upper limits on the number of pitches on a site. Both estimates require sites and pitches currently being underused to be brought back into use as Table One demonstrates:

75. A similar number of short-stay sites are required (as shown in Table Two), but this equates to a much higher proportionate increase over current provision. These calculations do not make allowance for an increase in seasonal or occasional travelling by "settled" Gypsies and Travellers who may travel if site provision improved. In her calculation of short-stay accommodation, Pat Niner estimates a 25% vacancy rate. She argues that transit accommodation is unlikely ever to be fully occupied, and may periodically be closed for clean-ups or repairs.

76. Without sufficient legal places to stop, Gypsies and Travellers stop where they can. The Traveller Law Reform Coalition estimate that 3,500 caravans, comprising 20% of the Gypsy and Traveller community, are on unauthorised encampments. We have received many submissions from members of the settled community and Gypsies and Travellers highlighting the problems caused by such encampments. Yvette Cooper, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the ODPM is aware of the problems, as she demonstrated in response to an adjournment debate:

"My hon. Friend rightly identifies that the heart of the problem is that not enough sites are currently available to meet demand. That can lead to unauthorised encampments, which can cause great distress to the local community, especially where damage is done to local areas. That can also lead to unauthorised development, where Gypsies and Travellers buy up sites for which planning permission is not given, which causes all sorts of frictions both within the planning system and, again, with local communities. Unauthorised development has increased significantly over the past few years."[68]

The Rt. Hon. Keith Hill MP, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, recognises there is insufficient provision:

"I have to say that in preparation for this Committee I did a bit of a back of the envelope calculation and it seems to me that the maximum of unauthorised pitches is about 4000 and you could describe that as the unmet demand. That does seem to fit in with Pat Niner's more detailed calculation which says that one to two thousand residential places and two to two and a half thousand transit sites or stopping places. So there is an unmet demand which needs to be resolved and I think we can begin to resolve that unmet demand in a number of ways."[69]

77. Although the Minister recognises the unmet demand, many are dissatisfied with the progress made by the Government and local authorities in addressing the shortfall. The Travellers Advice Team comment:

"In the Niner report, 'Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller Sites in England' (2003), it was estimated that between 1000 - 2000 permanent and 2000 - 2500 transit pitches were required by 2007 just to keep up with the current Gypsy and Traveller population. One year on from that report (when, at the very least, 200 permanent and 400 transit pitches should have been produced if there is hope of meeting the 2007 target) only a handful of new pitches have been created."[70]

The situation is worse if, as Pat Niner indicated in oral evidence, her figures underestimated need:

"I suspect that the estimates in my work, which really were a bit 'finger in the wind' on the basis of the counts (which are accepted, I think, to be an under estimate rather than an over estimate) is also an under-estimate of need rather than an over estimate. I think I may have under estimated the rate of family growth. We have been doing some work with local authorities recently which has collected information about the number of older children in Gypsy families on Gypsy sites and that suggests probably a natural rate of demographic household formation that is higher than was built into those proposals. So if we going to meet those targets, then, it does imply fairly rapid action."[71]

78. Charles Smith, Chair of the Gypsy Council for Education, Culture, Welfare and Civil Rights argues that aiming for specific targets will mean there is never sufficient provision:

"I do not think there should be a set number on sites. I think it should be an open-ended policy, the same as housing, because I feel that caravan sites and living in caravans should be an acceptable form of accommodation. If you have a set number and you provide those sites, what happens to the generation after? We are forever being seen as a special need and I do not think that is right. I think Gypsy and Traveller accommodation should be tied in with everybody else's accommodation. Housing is an open-ended thing and I do not see why caravan site provision should not be the same. […].but we are always living with a shortfall, that is the problem, because by the time they get around to providing our sites, if they provide them and it takes them ten years to provide them, in ten years' time we are still going to have 2,000 pitches that we are going to be short of. If we continually say, "This is the target," and we only ever aim ourselves for that target, we are never, ever going to fulfil the need for caravan site provision."[72]

79. An effective way to help reduce unauthorised camping is to have enough legal sites. There is too little accurate information on the levels of need required. The bi-annual Gypsy count is widely viewed as inaccurate. Even if the count is improved, it should be recognised only as a snapshot of what is occurring at time of completion. It may be out of date very quickly due to Travellers moving into, or out of the UK, as new employment opportunities arise or due to changes in the housing market. Consequently, planning policies should strive to produce a surplus of sites rather than a continuing under-supply.

67   The January 2002 base is 8,455 total families, 4,041 on local authority sites; 2,671 on authorised private sites; and 1,743 on unauthorised sites.  Back

68   HC Deb, 19 May 2004, col 1074  Back

69   Q 322 [Rt. Hon Keith Hill, a Member of the House, Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister] Back

70   Ev 45 [Travellers Advice Team, Community Law Partnership] Back

71   Q 174 Back

72   Q 36 and Q 38 Back