The Traveller Issue
South Essex has a long and proud history of being home to gypsies, but that good relationship has been put at risk by a minority of travellers who insist upon breaking planning laws by speedily and illegally developing land – often on the Greenbelt. Existing planning laws and enforcement measures have been unable to prevent these developments, which is why we need a new, twin-track approach.
Firstly, all councils should be obliged to provide authorized sites where there is need and for which an honest rent and council taxes can be collected. At present, many local authorities are not pulling their weight when it comes to traveller provision.
Secondly, councils should be given much stronger powers to deal with the minority of travellers who persist in breaking the law, stop illegal development very quickly, and put right any damage caused, and recover costs accordingly.
A perfect example is the Cray’s Hill camp - now the largest traveller site in Europe. The number of caravans on the site has shot up since a 2003 decision by the then Deputy Prime Minister to allow those travellers there illegally two years in which to move on.
I was disappointed by a proposal to reward this group by giving them another local site at Terminus Drive, Pitsea. This approach aroused strong local opposition, with my petition attracting over 5,000 signatures.
I have raised the issue of Cray’s Hill both inside and outside Parliament on many occasions. Read about my debate in Parliament, my meeting with John Prescott over Cray's Hill, and last year's "Battle Bus" protest. Finally, I was pleased to hear that our hard-fought campaign has paid off, as the Government confirmed that an appeal by the travellers against eviction had been dismissed – a real victory for local people power.
But there are other battles to fight. Plans approved by the unelected East of England Regional Assembly would impose an additional 81 new traveller pitches on Basildon District – on top of the 116 authorised pitches already provided and many illegal sites. Some neighbouring authorities would be left with as few as 15 in total. Read more.
I am encouraging all local residents concerned about this proposal to submit their views to the next stage of public consultation via the “GO-East” website.
Ultimately, it is my firm belief that all those who live in a community must abide by the same laws: we cannot allow travellers (or anyone else) to get away with building on the Greenbelt without permission.
