Asked by: Sandy Martin (Labour - Ipswich)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has taken steps to implement the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s recommendation that local authorities in England should have a duty to provide sufficient safe and adequate sites for Gypsies and Travellers based on the pre-2015 Planning policy for Traveller sites definitions of Gypsy and of Traveller.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Under section 8 of the Housing Act 1985, there is a statutory requirement on local authorities to consider the needs of people residing or resorting to their district with respect to the provision of caravan sites. The Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (PPTS) sets out the Government’s planning policy for traveller sites and should be read in conjunction with the revised National Planning Policy Framework. The PPTS is clear that local planning authorities should make their own assessment of need for the purposes of planning. They should identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets. Travellers who do not fall within the definition in Annex 1 of the PPTS should have their housing needs assessed under the National Planning Policy Framework.