END OF THE ROAD FOR GYPSY SITES IN EPPING?

Today, it is with pleasure I wholeheartedly applaud Epping Forest’s neighbouring MP, the Rt. Hon. Eric Pickles, our newly appointed Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who has sent a very clear message out to troublemaking Gypsies and Travellers that: “The good times are over.”

After years of setting up illegal campsites by exploiting legal loopholes, the Gypsy and traveller community have been told they have reached the end of the road – and that includes “Bank Holiday land-grabs”. Tough new legislation will create a criminal offence of intentional trespass. Travellers who refuse to move could be arrested by police or forcibly evicted. Travellers will be labelled “trespassers” if they set up home on other people’s land. Those who actually buy plots of land, often in Green Belt country, then begin building work before applying for retrospective planning permission will find that loophole closed.

So many times in the past, we have seen travellers move on to sites late on Fridays when councils close for a Bank Holiday weekend. They started building the next day, then apply for retrospective planning permission. If they failed to secure it, they often claimed their human rights as travellers were being infringed.

I have spent a great deal of time speaking with Eric on these issues over the past couple of years and he promised that should a Conservative Government be elected, they would deliver – and they have! He has explained today that: “The last government’s policies have undermined community relations and increased tensions. We will work to tackle the legitimate sense of injustice.”

In a letter to local council’s Eric explained: “I am writing to you today to highlight our commitment in the coalition agreements where we very clearly set out our intention to rapidly abolish Regional Strategies and return decision making powers on housing and planning to local councils. Consequently, decisions on housing supply (including the provision of travellers sites) will rest with Local Planning Authorities without the framework of regional numbers and plans.”

Epping Forest District Council Leader, Cllr. Mrs. Di Collins responded saying: "This is great news. It means the end for the deeply unpopular Government Directive that effectively forced the Council and our residents into one of the most prolonged, expensive and bureaucratic consultations our residents have ever had to endure. It was disliked by everyone including our local Gypsy and Travelling community and it will be a great relief for everyone to know we will now see the back of it. I applaud Eric Pickles for his swift action."

Under existing legislation, Epping Forest District Council is required to find 34 Gypsy and Traveller pitches by 2011 through a formal consultation process. Thankfully, it is now almost certain that these plans will be scrapped. This is a great day for the many thousands of local people who have campaigned so hard for fairness in our community. I congratulate you all.

GYPSY & TRAVELLER UPDATE: Government Appeal

The Leader of Epping Forest District Council will appeal directly to the Government for the removal of the Direction requiring the Council to consult upon and develop a separate Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document. The letter to Right Honourable John Healey MP, Minister for Housing and Planning within the Department of Communities and Local Government was recommended at the Cabinet meeting on 4 January to Full Council on 19 January for final approval.

Councillor Di Collins will publish a letter on behalf of the Council drawing attention to the substantial increase in provision of authorised pitches since the Government Direction. She will state that the workload associated with continuation of the Government Direction is putting other planning priorities at risk. She will seek approval for the Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document to be subsumed within the Core Strategy of the Local Development Framework. She will seek support from all three local MPs and the Shadow Minister.

Councillors also asked Councillor Collins to remind the Minister that the new planning framework was supposed to streamline processes and reduce costs. The Direction seems to have created the opposite effect. Councillors complimented the local community for the amount of work that had gone into the responses to the consultation and stressed that this evidence base was a key input to further work on the DPD.

Epping Forest District Council is required to identify space to accommodate a minimum of 34 additional Gypsy and Traveller pitches by 2011. Through the normal planning process, permissions and approvals have reduced this figure to about 20. However, more than 10,500 people responded individually or as part of groups to the consultation on potential sites. This led to a massive evaluation exercise for Council staff which has taken far longer than the Government timetable envisaged.

The Council wants to streamline the process by subsuming the Gypsy and Traveller issues into the Core Strategy as part of the Local Development Framework. The LDF replaces the Local Plan as the ‘blue-print’ for policies against which future planning applications are judged. Completion of the LDF is considered vital by the Council as it prepares with Harlow and East Herts District Councils to implement the recommendations of the East of England Plan. The Council will continue the preparation of the Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document pending the Minister’s response.

Councillor Di Collins said: “There is enormous strength of feeling among residents and councillors. We believe the original Government Direction was flawed. We are now appealing to the Minister to look at the outcome of that Direction - the process that Epping Forest District Council has followed - and listen to local residents and councillors and the evidence we have already collected. If he listens, I believe he must understand that the Direction should be lifted and local people should be trusted with the power to make decisions for ourselves.”

PREFERENTIAL MEDICAL TREATMENT FOR GYPSIES

Recently released Government plans could see the introduction of new requirements for the West Essex Primary Care Trust to provide preferential medical treatment to Gypsies and Travellers in the Epping Forest district.

Epping Forest MP, Eleanor Laing has written to the Secretary of State for Health, Rt. Hon. Andy Burnham MP, following the publication of guidelines to NHS practitioners, stating: "There is already considerable pressure on GPs and my local hospital as well as a severe shortage of dentists in the Epping Forest district. In addition the Government is ordering Epping Forest district to provide 39 new pitches for gypsies and travellers between now and 2011. Indeed, the district is required to provide more sites (44.7 per 1,000 new dwellings) in relation to new dwellings than any other local authority in the East of England. This disproportionate requirement would have put impossible pressure on the infrastructure of the area even before the publication of today’s guidelines. On average there are two caravans per pitch, which could amount to up to 500 gypsies and travellers moving into Epping Forest district, all of whom would have preferential access to local health services under these new guidelines. This would create an unbearable strain on local amenities which are already struggling to cope with the everyday needs of my constituents."

Mrs Laing has also asked Mr Burnham to confirm what additional resources will be made available to the district's health services to enable them to carry out the extra statutory responsibilities being imposed on them and stated: "We all agree that gypsies and travellers must be treated equally in accessing NHS services, but attempts to create a balanced and integrated society, including within it gypsies and travellers, will be damaged if local people see their own families suffer as a result of the Government giving priority to gypsies and travellers." A full copy of the letter is available here.

If you would like to join the campaign to oppose the Governments plans to introduce new Gypsy and Traveller sites in Epping, please click here. Alternatively, you can keep up-to-date with developments by clicking here.

DATE FOR THE DIARY - Saturday 13th June 2009

Epping Residents Group are hosting a Quiz Night to help raise funds for their ongoing campaign to fight against the Government’s proposals to introduce three new Gypsy and Traveller sites in Epping.

The Quiz Night will take place on Saturday 13th June at the Catholic Church Hall, Church Hill, Epping. Tickets cost £7.50 per person and include a Ploughman’s supper. For tickets, please call 07862 960780 or email info@eppingresidentsgroup.com Alternatively, you can visit their website and follow the campaign here.