Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to define dominance in respect of the proportion of Traveller sites in a local area.

When assessing the suitability of sites in rural or semi-rural areas, local planning authorities should ensure that the scale of the development does not dominate the nearest settled community. It is for the local planning authority when assessing an application to apply this policy when determining if the proposed development could dominate the nearest settled community.

The Secretary of State is in the process of preparing guidance to support authorities in determining planning applications for Gypsy and Traveller sites where the issue of traveller sites dominating the nearest settled community are raised.