Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle illegal traveller encampments where the same group repeatedly relocates within a local area, requiring the local authority to obtain a new possession order.

Planning policy is clear that local authorities should assess the need for traveller sites in their area, and then plan to meet that need, in the same way they plan for all forms of housing.

The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government recently consulted on a new National Planning Policy Framework, which includes proposals that aim to give greater clarity on how traveller sites should be planned for, and which seeks views on the impacts of our policies on Gypsies and Travellers. The consultation closed on 10 March and responses are being analysed.