Gypsies and Travellers in the United Kingdom: Planning, Housing and Human Rights in a Changing Legal Regulatory Framework

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Pages: 533-550
• Citation: (2009) 20 Stell LR 533
• Author: Robert Home
• Published date: 16 August 2019
• Date: 16 August 2019

533

Gypsies and Travellers in The uniTed

KinGdoM: planninG, housinG and huMan

riGhTs in a chanGinG leGal reGulaTory

fraMeWorK

Robert Home

MA PhD DipTP MRTPI

Professor in Land Management, Anglia Ruskin University (UK)

1 Introduction

Gypsies and Travellers probably comprise less than 0.5% of t he UK

population, and those liv ing in caravans les s than a tenth of 1%.1 Yet

vastly di sproportionate public resources have been expended in attempts to

control and regulate this ti ny minority grou p. Anti-social behaviour has often

been attributed to Gypsies a nd Travellers by non-Gypsies, wh ile the vexed

question of whe re Gypsies may stop has led to conicts over land use and

accommodation. Over the past 40 years they have engaged much attention

from the legislative, judicial and executive arms of gover nment at nat ional,

regional and local government levels, as well as from many academic and

policy researchers.2 The issues involved affect a wide a rray of spe cialist

legal areas which include land use planni ng; housing and homelessness;

caravans and mobile homes; crime, anti-social behaviour and policing; and

health, education and welfare.

This article offers a brief overview of that body of law and regulation, from

the Ca ravan Sites Act 1968 to the recent major review of law and policy. It

then surveys the wealth of relevant case law that has emerged, particularly the

introduction of human rights arguments over the last decade. The early effects

of the review of law and policy since 2004 a re focused mainly upon the issue

1 Official six-monthly caravan counts currently record some 14,00 0 carava ns in England, estimat ed to

represent appr oximately 10,000 families , or 40,000-50,000 individ uals (their households tend to be larger

than for the settled population) Estimates of total Gypsy population (including those in convent ional

housing) range bet ween 120,000 and 300,000 The dec ennial census doe s not at present identify Gy psies/

Travellers as a se parate ra cial group (although it does identify those livi ng in caravans or “tempor ary

accommod ation”) See Greenfield s & Home “Assess ing Gypsies and Travellers Need s” 20 06 16(2)

Romani Studi es 105

2 A selection of b ooks alone (excludi ng articles and repor ts) published si nce the 1970s wo uld include t he

following On law: Johnson & Willers Gypsy and Traveller Law (2004); Weyrauch Gy psy Law: Romani

Legal Tradit ions and Culture (2001) On th e role of the st ate: Clark & Gree nfields Her e To Stay: The

Gypsies and Travelle rs of Britain (2006); Hawes & Perez T he Gypsy and the State: Th e Ethnic Cleansing

of British Society (1996); Morris & Cle ments Gaining Ground: Law Reform for Gyp sies and Travelle rs

(1999); Morris & Cleme nts At What Cost? T he Economics of Gypsy and Traveller Encampments (20 02)

On Gypsy cultu re and identity: Acton Gypsy Politics and Soci al Change (1974); Acton Gypsy Politics and

Traveller Identit y (1997); Acton & Mundy Romani Culture and Gypsy Ide ntity (1997); Acton Scholarship

and the Gypsy St ruggle: Commitme nt in Romani Studies (20 00); Bancroft Roma and Gyp sy-Travellers in

Europe (2005); Fraser The G ypsies (1992); Kenrick & Clark Movin g On: The Gyp sies and Travelle rs of

Britain (1999); Okely The Traveller-Gy psies (1983); Sibley Outsiders in Urba n Society (198 1)

(2009) 20 Stell LR 533

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of accommo dation needs i n the context of land us e planning. Fina lly, some

points of comparison are offered on the treat ment of excluded social g roups

in other jurisdictions, part icularly Israel/Palesti ne and apartheid-period South

Africa .

2 40 years of “the Gypsy Problem” (1968-2008)

The relationship between the st ate and Gypsies in the United Kingdom has

for centu ries been “ marked by conf usion, ambiguity, harsh persecution and

qualied tolerance”,3 wit h some 29 laws concerning Gypsies being passed

in England and Wales between 1530 and 1908. Among these, it was highways

legislation which led to the dening of Gypsies by statute: t he Highways Act

1835 introduced nes for a Gypsy who “pitches a booth, stall or stand, or

encamps on a highway”, and the consolidating Highways Act 1959 retained

that offence,4 but without the additional phrase formerly used, “or other

person t ravelling”, and so helped provide the statutory denition enacted in

the following yea r. Af ter the Second World War, the creation of a nat ional

system of plan ning cont rol began to affect Gypsies negatively, as will be

considered later in thi s article.

The Caravan Sites Act 1960 broug ht all sites for caravans under a u niform

licensing regime. Primarily intended t o control holiday camping and prevent

the growth of unsightly car avan sites in rural areas, its new licensing regime

had the effect of drastically reduci ng Gypsies’ opportun ities to park up on

farm or ‘common’ land while travelli ng or undertaking agr icultural work. To

compensate for thi s reduction in legal stopping places, t he Caravan Sites Act

1960 provided local authorities with a discretionary power to establish special

“gypsy” caravan sites, but in practice few did so. Du ring the ea rly 1960s, a

number of heated Parliamentary debates followed high-prole evict ions of

large sites on trad itional stopping places (some of which had been used for

hundreds of years), as well a s prosecutions of landowners willing to allow

Gypsies to st op on their land, and the compulsory purchase of G ypsies’ own

land. The matter was regarded by central governme nt ofcials at the time as a

residual problem affecti ng a few thousand families of c aravan-dwellers, who

were described in a gover nment memorandum as reecting an “individual

reaction against the t rammels of a welfare state”.5

The Caravan Sites Act 1968 (“the Carava n Sites Act”) followed, Part I I

of which required local authorities “so fa r as may be necessary t o provide

adequate acc ommodation for Gypsies residing in or resorting t o their area”.6

The Secreta ry of State was e mpowered to m ake designation orders for a reas

where satised that adequate provision of “gypsy sites” had been m ade by

local aut horities (or on grounds of expe diency). Once a local authority h ad

3 Mayall English Gypsies a nd State Policies (1995) 7

4 S 127(c)

5 Memorandum on “Sites for Gy psies and Ot her Itineran ts” in The Gypsy Proble m (1964-1967): Possible

Further Leg islation HLG 142/26 (a fi le of the former Mi nistry of Hous ing and Local Gover nment in the

National A rchive Offi ce at Kew) Th is file r ecords the official di scussions tha t resulted in the Ca ravan

Sites Act of 1968

6 S 6(1)

534 STELL LR 2009 3

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