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Accommodating Travelling Showpeople in England

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• accommodation Social Sciences 100%
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T1 - Accommodating Travelling Showpeople in England

AU - Scullion, Lisa

AU - Brown, Philip

AU - Niner, Patricia

PY - 2012/4/1

Y1 - 2012/4/1

N2 - Historically, Travelling Showpeople have sought to distance themselves from the wider Gypsy and Traveller population, on the basis of their unique occupation and travelling patterns, but also based on a discourse around self sufficiency. This article explores how this distinction has been influenced by, and has influenced, policy developments relating to accommodation. It focuses on how this distinction has created a degree of exclusion in terms of accommodation needs, and how this impacts on the position of contemporary Travelling Showpeople, particularly in a time of changing travelling and employment patterns.

AB - Historically, Travelling Showpeople have sought to distance themselves from the wider Gypsy and Traveller population, on the basis of their unique occupation and travelling patterns, but also based on a discourse around self sufficiency. This article explores how this distinction has been influenced by, and has influenced, policy developments relating to accommodation. It focuses on how this distinction has created a degree of exclusion in terms of accommodation needs, and how this impacts on the position of contemporary Travelling Showpeople, particularly in a time of changing travelling and employment patterns.

U2 - 10.1017/S1474746411000522

DO - 10.1017/S1474746411000522

M3 - Article

SN - 1474-7464

JO - Social Policy and Society

JF - Social Policy and Society

The Showmen's Guild of Great Britain

The principal  object of the Showmen’s Guild has remained the same since its inception as the Van Dweller Association: to protect the interests of its members – travelling showmen who gain their livelihoods by attending funfairs. It does this in two ways; by its code of rules for members and through the legal and constitutional processes that exist currently of the land.

The Guild’s rule  book ensures that all members have equal status within the Guild, regardless of the scope of their operations as individual businessmen. The rules, which are enforced by the Guild’s own disciplinary tribunals cover such matters as the orderly running of fairs and the conduct of members both on and off fairgrounds.

The Guild is accepted  at both national and local levels as the negotiating body for travelling showmen.

Through its  parliamentary agent, the Guild contests any proposed legislation that discriminates against its members; or seeks concessions when legislation threatens their ability to make a living.

In matters involving local authorities  a delegation of officers will usually be called upon to represent member’s interests.

The world’s only exhibition for both the land-based gaming and pay-to-play amusements sectors EAG attracts thousands of operators from sectors including family entertainment centres, adult gaming centres, piers, attractions, bars, clubs, bingo halls and bowling centres. Featuring 100+ brands and companies EAG is a ‘must attend’ for operators wanting to keep their venues ahead of the competition.  https://www.eagexpo.com

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Every Gypsy and Traveller caravan site in England mapped and listed

Official figures showing the number of Gypsy and Traveller caravan sites across England have been released today.

The report published by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) , is the most comprehensive count of local gypsy and caravan sites with details on total number of pitches and showing both those on authorised and unauthorised sites.

The number of those on authorised sites increased by 556 caravans since January 2010 with a total of 15,274 now being recorded. However the number of those on unauthorised sites saw a huge drop - down 26% on the previous year.

The decrease of unauthorised caravans was more pronounced on land not owned by Gypsies and Travellers with a large drop of 26% on the year with a much smaller decline of 8% on land that owned by either Gypsies or Travellers.

The total number of all sites across England only saw a marginal rise with 46 more caravans than in January 2010, making the total 18,383 in January 2011.

The data which also shows gypsy, traveller and travelling showpeople caravan sites by local authority, illustrates which areas of England have the highest concentration. The east of England recorded the highest number of caravans - 24% of the total number- then followed by the South East.

Cottingley Springs in Leeds has the highest caravan capacity of those recorded in England with the capacity of 120 whilst Duchy Road in Salford has the highest number of pitches at 61.

London and the North East recorded the lowest number of caravans. The Google Fusion map shows all the Gypsy, Traveller and travelling showpeople caravan sites across England and is colour coded to show the sites with the highest number of pitches (the red circles). The spreadsheet to download also shows the number of total caravan sites over the years. What can you do with this data?

Data summary

Download the data.

• DATA: download the full spreadsheet

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Accommodating Travelling Showpeople in England

2012, Social Policy and Society

Historically, Travelling Showpeople have sought to distance themselves from the wider Gypsy and Traveller population, on the basis of their unique occupation and travelling patterns, but also based on a discourse around self sufficiency. This article explores how this distinction has been influenced by, and has influenced, policy developments relating to accommodation. It focuses on how this distinction has created a degree of exclusion in terms of accommodation needs, and how this impacts on the position of contemporary Travelling Showpeople, particularly in a time of changing travelling and employment patterns.

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This paper consists of discussion of findings from a series of empirical studies conducted in London and southern England. A central concern of these studies was to explore the collective responses and adaptations of Gypsies and Travellers to post-war (1945) government legislation which has aimed to eradicate nomadic lifestyles and in so doing, to settle and assimilate this group into the general population. Despite these policy objectives Gypsies and Travellers through utilising forms of cultural resilience have resisted enormous pressures to assimilate, managing to live within a wider culture while rejecting its values and social institutions and recreating traditional collective lifestyles (as far as possible) within けHヴキIニゲ ;ミS マラヴデ;ヴげ ;IIラママラS;デキラミく The authors outline contemporary forms of resistance to assimilation and, by drawing on qualitative and ethnographic data, demonstrate how relations between the state and Gypsies and Travellers is characterised by a cyclical relatio...

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Definitions of Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople

Gypsies and travellers.

For planning purposes Gypsies and Travellers are defined as:

Within the main definition are a number of cultural groups, including:

• Romany gypsies
• Irish Travellers and
• New Travellers

Romany Gypsies and Irish travellers are recognised in law as distinct ethnic groups and legally protected from discrimination under the Equalities Act 2010.

We try to avoid generalisation and stereotyping but for ease of working we often see Gypsies or Irish Travellers as those with modern, good quality vehicles who visit mainly urban areas to ply their various trades. They are often highly mobile and stay for relatively short periods of time. However some do stay longer when they can find a site to use as a base.

'New' or 'New Age' Travellers may be recognised by the assortment of vehicles in which they live. They may travel in search of seasonal employment or summer festivals but will usually want to stay on a site for a long period of time while their children attend local schools or while they repair their vehicles. They often have limited resources so moving from site to site can be a problem for them. There are now children of these families born on the road with no experience of house-dwelling.

All travellers, including New Travellers, have their right to roam protected by Human Rights Legislation, by the Housing Act 2004, the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and the Children's Act 2004.

Travelling Showpeople

Travelling Showpeople are defined as:

Although their work is of a mobile nature, Showpeople nevertheless require secure, permanent bases for the storage and repair of their equipment and to live when not on the road. In recent years many Showpeople have had to leave traditional sites, which have been displaced by other forms of development.

Many Showpeople are members of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain and are required by the Guild to follow a strict code of practice regulating the use of their sites. Membership of the Guild provides Showpeople with exemption from the site licensing requirements of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 when they are travelling for the purpose of their business, or where they only occupy quarters for a period between the beginning of October and the end of March in the following year.

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Principle 1: Site and Pitch Layout

The section provides approaches and considerations when planning and designing gypsy and traveller sites. the guidance is aimed to provide an overview of what is expected. the guidance is designed to be applicable to a range of scaled sites from smaller sites consisting of two or three pitches through to large scale sites of 15+ pitches. it is recognised that not all guidance will be appropriate to every site and the developer, architect and gypsy and traveller community should assess the need..

Site Layout

It is known that there is no one layout that can be applied to every development site. The layout design of development sites will be shaped by a number of constraints both within the site as well as wider contextual influences. To help in the layout of a site it is recommended that early consultation and assessment is undertaken to recognise site influences as well as encompassing community involvement and input.

Development sizes and pitch numbers will all have an input into the layout and arrangement of a site. Larger sites should consider the crescent or similar layout to address manoeuvrability, surveillance and security, while for smaller sites considerations play more on security and surveillance.

Sites up to 15 pitches are considered to provide a well-balanced site where amenity, security and management of a site can be achievable depending on site opportunities and constraints.

Site influences and allowances should be considered when planning:

• Access – Multiple access options should be considered for both pedestrian and vehicular. Sites must make allowances for both manoeuvrability of caravans and trailers as well as emergency vehicles.
• Servicing – Infrastructure needs to be able to support the community the site is designed for.
• Landscape Impact (character, visual and amenity) – Development should be landscape driven where impact is mitigated and proposals responsive to landscape requirements (e.g. reduction of hard landscaping).
• Planning Designations (Tree Preservation Orders, Protected Sites, Green Belt, Ecological Impacts) – Sites need to identify and respond to designations at an early stage of the design process.
• Visual Impact – The design process should respond and mitigate to any visual impact as a result of development. This can be from a landscape, character or privacy approach.
• Parking – Development must be in accordance with Essex Parking Standards while addressing user requirements.
• Amenity Space – Allowance for open space should be encouraged.
• Boundary Impact – Sites should be inclusive within a wider community. Boundary proposals should respond to site requirements and openness of a Gypsy, Traveller and Showpeople site.
• Density – Layout and density should meet national standards while responding to the needs of a resident.
• Drainage – Sustainable drainage should be encouraged.
• Travelling Showpeople requirements – Suitable storage facilities should be allowed to cater for the residents.

Density of Gypsy and Traveller sites should be driven by the latest fire safety guidance or advice from the fire authority with regards to offset and position of living accommodation.

Considerations should also factor privacy of individual pitches where a clear balance between natural surveillance is included.

Density of pitches will also have key impacts on servicing, manoeuvrability, parking and management of the site.

Pitch size will be determined by site layout, safety guidance, site specific requirements as well as considerations for size of family unit. Essex County Council’s waiting lists and Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) can provide information of the need and requirements for families to allow for a variety of pitch sizes to cater for demand.

It is advised that the following pitch requirements should be considered when designing a pitch layout:

• Large Trailer Pitch – Mobile homes have become more widely used in the place of traditional caravans. The size, servicing and manoeuvrability should be considered. As mobile homes increase in size it is advised allowance for up to 25m in length should be considered.

Due to the varying sizes of accommodation, as well as site considerations, it is suggested that varying sized trailer pitches are provided to cater for the changing size of family and pitch requirements. Larger pitches can be provided closer to the site access where manoeuvrability can be more complex for large trailers. Access to pitches should cater for the average trailer size for up to 15m in length.

• Parking – It is advised that parking for up to two vehicles is provided. Parking specification should be in accordance with the Essex Parking Standards . Working vehicles should be considered in the layout and access requirements. Parking areas should be finished in a bound material to ensure maintenance and appearance are in keeping with site requirements and design response.
• Storage – Consideration should be given to the provision of an external storage shed. This could be to cater for bicycle storage, washing line storage or tools. Storage should be accessible as well as lockable.
• Amenity Building – see below
• Travelling Showpeople Yard – Consideration should have regard to the need for mixed-use yards to allow residents accommodation and space for storage of equipment.

Amenity Building

Amenity buildings must be provided to all proposed pitches. The role of an amenity building provides a self-contained facility. As a minimum each unit should provide the following;

• Hot and cold water
• Electricity supply
• A separate toilet - Toilet should be accessed through lobby or separate access direct from the pitch.
• Bath and/or shower
• Kitchen and dining areas with storage.
• Means of heating

It is becoming more common for the inclusion of day and living rooms to be included within amenity building designs. It is encouraged that these are a facility which can be either a separate room or integrated into the kitchen dining arrangement.

The construction of an amenity block should meet the requirements of the current Building Regulations as well as other quality and construction standards. This would include the compliance of materials and workmanship to ensure durable and low maintenance buildings are provided.

Where possible it is recommended that buildings are cost effective through the installation of energy efficient design and construction methods. These should consider passive solar gain, energy conservation and sustainable building materials in accordance with the Essex Design Guide – Renewable Energy for Developments section.

Design and construction of all buildings must meet Building Regulations (2010) and Design and Quality Standards (2007).

Page updated: 11/09/2019

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• Housing, local and community
• Planning and building
• Planning system

Planning policy for traveller sites

• Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities
• Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government

Updated 19 December 2023

© Crown copyright 2023

This publication is licensed under the terms of the Open Government Licence v3.0 except where otherwise stated. To view this licence, visit nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3 or write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: [email protected] .

Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned.

This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/planning-policy-for-traveller-sites/planning-policy-for-traveller-sites

1. Introduction

1. This document sets out the government’s planning policy for traveller [footnote 1] sites. It should be read in conjunction with the National Planning Policy Framework . See Guidance on the Framework .

2. Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan, unless material considerations indicate otherwise. This policy must be taken into account in the preparation of development plans, and is a material consideration in planning decisions [footnote 2] . Local planning authorities preparing plans for and taking decisions on traveller sites should also have regard to the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework so far as relevant.

3. The government’s overarching aim is to ensure fair and equal treatment for travellers, in a way that facilitates the traditional and nomadic way of life of travellers while respecting the interests of the settled community.

4. To help achieve this, government’s aims in respect of traveller sites are:

a. that local planning authorities should make their own assessment of need for the purposes of planning

b. to ensure that local planning authorities, working collaboratively, develop fair and effective strategies to meet need through the identification of land for sites

c. to encourage local planning authorities to plan for sites over a reasonable timescale

d. that plan-making and decision-taking should protect Green Belt from inappropriate development

e. to promote more private traveller site provision while recognising that there will always be those travellers who cannot provide their own sites

f. that plan-making and decision-taking should aim to reduce the number of unauthorised developments and encampments and make enforcement more effective

g. for local planning authorities to ensure that their Local Plan includes fair, realistic and inclusive policies

h. to increase the number of traveller sites in appropriate locations with planning permission, to address under provision and maintain an appropriate level of supply

i. to reduce tensions between settled and traveller communities in plan-making and planning decisions

j. to enable provision of suitable accommodation from which travellers can access education, health, welfare and employment infrastructure

k. for local planning authorities to have due regard to the protection of local amenity and local environment

5. To benefit those engaged in planning for traveller sites, specific planning policies for traveller sites are clearly set out in this separate document. The government intends to review this policy when fair and representative practical results of its implementation are clear.

6. The government still intends to review in the future whether Planning Policy for Traveller Sites should be incorporated within the wider National Planning Policy Framework. This will be considered as part of any wider review of the Framework.

2. Using evidence

Policy a: using evidence to plan positively and manage development.

7. In assembling the evidence base necessary to support their planning approach, local planning authorities should:

a) pay particular attention to early and effective community engagement with both settled and traveller communities (including discussing travellers’ accommodation needs with travellers themselves, their representative bodies and local support groups)

b) cooperate with travellers, their representative bodies and local support groups; other local authorities and relevant interest groups to prepare and maintain an up-to-date understanding of the likely permanent and transit accommodation needs of their areas over the lifespan of their development plan, working collaboratively with neighbouring local planning authorities

c) use a robust evidence base to establish accommodation needs to inform the preparation of local plans and make planning decisions

3. Plan-making

Policy b: planning for traveller sites.

8. Local Plans must be prepared with the objective of contributing to the achievement of sustainable development. To this end, they should be consistent with the policies in the National Planning Policy Framework, including the presumption in favour of sustainable development and the application of specific policies in the Framework, and this planning policy for traveller sites.

9. Local planning authorities should set pitch targets for gypsies and travellers as defined in Annex 1 and plot targets for travelling showpeople as defined in Annex 1 which address the likely permanent and transit site accommodation needs of travellers in their area, working collaboratively with neighbouring local planning authorities [footnote 3] .

10. Local planning authorities should, in producing their Local Plan:

a) identify and update annually, a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets [footnote 4]

b) identify a supply of specific, developable sites, or broad locations for growth, for years 6 to 10 and, where possible, for years 11-15 [footnote 5]

c) consider production of joint development plans that set targets on a cross-authority basis, to provide more flexibility in identifying sites, particularly if a local planning authority has special or strict planning constraints across its area (local planning authorities have a duty to cooperate on planning issues that cross administrative boundaries)

d) relate the number of pitches or plots to the circumstances of the specific size and location of the site and the surrounding population’s size and density

e) protect local amenity and environment

11. Criteria should be set to guide land supply allocations where there is identified need. Where there is no identified need, criteria-based policies should be included to provide a basis for decisions in case applications nevertheless come forward. Criteria based policies should be fair and should facilitate the traditional and nomadic life of travellers while respecting the interests of the settled community.

12. In exceptional cases, where a local planning authority is burdened by a large-scale unauthorised site that has significantly increased their need, and their area is subject to strict and special planning constraints, then there is no assumption that the local planning authority is required to plan to meet their traveller site needs in full.

13.Local planning authorities should ensure that traveller sites are sustainable economically, socially and environmentally. Local planning authorities should, therefore, ensure that their policies:

a) promote peaceful and integrated co-existence between the site and the local community

b) promote, in collaboration with commissioners of health services, access to appropriate health services

c) ensure that children can attend school on a regular basis

d) provide a settled base that reduces both the need for long-distance travelling and possible environmental damage caused by unauthorised encampment

e) provide for proper consideration of the effect of local environmental quality (such as noise and air quality) on the health and well-being of any travellers that may locate there or on others as a result of new development

f) avoid placing undue pressure on local infrastructure and services

g) do not locate sites in areas at high risk of flooding, including functional floodplains, given the particular vulnerability of caravans

h) reflect the extent to which traditional lifestyles (whereby some travellers live and work from the same location thereby omitting many travel to work journeys) can contribute to sustainability.

Policy C: Sites in rural areas and the countryside

14. When assessing the suitability of sites in rural or semi-rural settings, local planning authorities should ensure that the scale of such sites does not dominate the nearest settled community.

Policy D: Rural exception sites

15. If there is a lack of affordable land to meet local traveller needs, local planning authorities in rural areas, where viable and practical, should consider allocating and releasing sites solely for affordable traveller sites. This may include using a rural exception site policy for traveller sites that should also be used to manage applications. A rural exception site policy enables small sites to be used, specifically for affordable traveller sites, in small rural communities, that would not normally be used for traveller sites [footnote 6] . Rural exception sites should only be used for affordable traveller sites in perpetuity. A rural exception site policy should seek to address the needs of the local community by accommodating households who are either current residents or have an existing family or employment connection, whilst also ensuring that rural areas continue to develop as sustainable, mixed, inclusive communities.

Policy E: Traveller sites in Green Belt

16. Inappropriate development is harmful to the Green Belt and should not be approved, except in very special circumstances. Traveller sites (temporary or permanent) in the Green Belt are inappropriate development. Subject to the best interests of the child, personal circumstances and unmet need are unlikely to clearly outweigh harm to the Green Belt and any other harm so as to establish very special circumstances.

17. Green Belt boundaries should be altered only in exceptional circumstances. If a local planning authority wishes to make an exceptional, limited alteration to the defined Green Belt boundary (which might be to accommodate a site inset within the Green Belt) to meet a specific, identified need for a traveller site, it should do so only through the plan-making process and not in response to a planning application. If land is removed from the Green Belt in this way, it should be specifically allocated in the development plan as a traveller site only.

Policy F: Mixed planning use traveller sites

18. Local planning authorities should consider, wherever possible, including traveller sites suitable for mixed residential and business uses, having regard to the safety and amenity of the occupants and neighbouring residents. Local planning authorities should consider the scope for identifying separate sites for residential and for business purposes in close proximity to one another if mixed sites are not practical.

19. Local planning authorities should have regard to the need that travelling showpeople have for mixed-use yards to allow residential accommodation and space for storage of equipment.

20. Local planning authorities should not permit mixed use on rural exception sites.

Policy G: Major development projects

21. Local planning authorities should work with the planning applicant and the affected traveller community to identify a site or sites suitable for relocation of the community if a major development proposal requires the permanent or temporary relocation of a traveller site. Local planning authorities are entitled to expect the applicant to identify and provide an alternative site, providing the development on the original site is authorised.

4. Decision-taking

Policy h: determining planning applications for traveller sites.

22. Planning law requires that applications for planning permission must be determined in accordance with the development plan [footnote 7] , unless material considerations indicate otherwise [footnote 8] .

23. Applications should be assessed and determined in accordance with the presumption in favour of sustainable development and the application of specific policies in the National Planning Policy Framework and this planning policy for traveller sites.

24. Local planning authorities should consider the following issues amongst other relevant matters when considering planning applications for traveller sites:

a) the existing level of local provision and need for sites

b) the availability (or lack) of alternative accommodation for the applicants

c) other personal circumstances of the applicant

d) that the locally specific criteria used to guide the allocation of sites in plans or which form the policy where there is no identified need for pitches/plots should be used to assess applications that may come forward on unallocated sites

e) that they should determine applications for sites from any travellers and not just those with local connections

However, as paragraph 16 makes clear, subject to the best interests of the child, personal circumstances and unmet need are unlikely to clearly outweigh harm to the Green Belt and any other harm so as to establish very special circumstances.

25. Local planning authorities should very strictly limit new traveller site development in open countryside that is away from existing settlements or outside areas allocated in the development plan. Local planning authorities should ensure that sites in rural areas respect the scale of, and do not dominate, the nearest settled community, and avoid placing an undue pressure on the local infrastructure.

26. When considering applications, local planning authorities should attach weight to the following matters:

a) effective use of previously developed (brownfield), untidy or derelict land

b) sites being well planned or soft landscaped in such a way as to positively enhance the environment and increase its openness

c) promoting opportunities for healthy lifestyles, such asensuring adequate landscaping and play areas for children

d) not enclosing a site with so much hard landscaping, high walls or fences, that the impression may be given that the site and its occupants are deliberately isolated from the rest of the community

27. If a local planning authority cannot demonstrate an up-to-date 5 year supply of deliverable sites, this should be a significant material consideration in any subsequent planning decision when considering applications for the grant of temporary planning permission [footnote 9] . The exception is where the proposal is on land designated as Green Belt; sites protected under the Birds and Habitats Directives and / or sites designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest; Local Green Space, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, or within a National Park (or the Broads).

28. Local planning authorities should consider how they could overcome planning objections to particular proposals using planning conditions or planning obligations including:

a) limiting which parts of a site may be used for any business operations, in order to minimise the visual impact and limit the effect of noise

b) specifying the number of days the site can be occupied by more than the allowed number of caravans (which permits visitors and allows attendance at family or community events)

c) limiting the maximum number of days for which caravans might be permitted to stay on a transit site

Policy I: Implementation

29. The policies in this revised Planning Policy for Traveller Sites apply from the day of publication. This replaces the version published in March 2012.

30. The implementation policies set out in the National Planning Policy Framework will apply also to plan-making and decision-taking for traveller sites. In applying those implementation provisions to traveller sites, references in those provisions to policies in the National Planning Policy Framework should, where relevant, be read to include policies in this planning policy for traveller sites.

Annex 1: Glossary

1. For the purposes of this planning policy “gypsies and travellers” means:

Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people travelling together as such.

2. In determining whether persons are “gypsies and travellers” for the purposes of this planning policy, consideration should be given to the following issues amongst other relevant matters:

a) whether they previously led a nomadic habit of life b) the reasons for ceasing their nomadic habit of life c) whether there is an intention of living a nomadic habit of life in the future, and if so, how soon and in what circumstances.

3. For the purposes of this planning policy, “travelling showpeople” means:

Members of a group organised for the purposes of holding fairs, circuses or shows (whether or not travelling together as such). This includes such persons who on the grounds of their own or their family’s or dependants’ more localised pattern of trading, educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, but excludes Gypsies and Travellers as defined above.

4. For the purposes of this planning policy, “travellers” means “gypsies and travellers” and “travelling showpeople” as defined above.

5. For the purposes of this planning policy, “pitch” means a pitch on a “gypsy and traveller” site and “plot” means a pitch on a “travelling showpeople” site (often called a “yard”). This terminology differentiates between residential pitches for “gypsies and travellers” and mixed-use plots for “travelling showpeople”, which may / will need to incorporate space or to be split to allow for the storage of equipment

See Annex 1 for the definition of traveller for the purposes of this statement.  ↩

Sections 19(2)(a) and 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and section 70(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. In relation to neighbourhood plans, under section 38B and C and paragraph 8(2) of new Schedule 4B to the 2004 Act (inserted by the Localism Act 2011 section 116 and Schedules 9 and 10) the independent examiner will consider whether having regard to national policy is appropriate to make the plan.  ↩

See Annex 1 for definitions of ‘pitch’ and ‘plot’.  ↩

To be considered deliverable, sites should be available now, offer a suitable location for development, and be achievable with a realistic prospect that development will be delivered on the site within 5 years. Sites with planning permission should be considered deliverable until permission expires, unless there is clear evidence that schemes will not be implemented within 5 years, for example they will not be viable, there is no longer a demand for the type of units or sites have long-term phasing plans.  ↩

To be considered developable, sites should be in a suitable location for traveller site development and there should be a reasonable prospect that the site is available and could be viably developed at the point envisaged.  ↩

Small rural settlements have been designated for enfranchisement and right to acquire purposes (under section 17 of the Housing Act 1996) by SI 1997/620-25 inclusive and 1999/1307.  ↩

Section 38(1) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004: this includes adopted or approved development plan documents i.e. the Local Plan and neighbourhood plans which have been made in relation to the area (and the London Plan).  ↩

Section 38(6) of the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 and section 70(2) of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.  ↩

There is no presumption that a temporary grant of planning permission should be granted permanently. For further guidance please see Use of planning conditions (paragraph 14).  ↩

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Carr SM, Lhussier M, Forster N, et al. Outreach programmes for health improvement of Traveller Communities: a synthesis of evidence. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2014 Jul. (Public Health Research, No. 2.3.)

Outreach programmes for health improvement of Traveller Communities: a synthesis of evidence.

Chapter 1 introduction.

This chapter discusses the background to, and an overview of the focus of, this review. Definitions and distinguishing characteristics of Traveller Communities, the demographics of these populations and their commonalities are first discussed. This is followed by an illustration of the health inequalities experienced by these groups and the limited amount of evidence examining the effectiveness of interventions to improve the health of Traveller Communities. Finally, the complex and undertheorised nature of outreach is described, alongside the challenges this poses for evaluation.

Traveller Communities

Definitions and distinguishing characteristics.

The term ‘Traveller Communities’ refers to a complex population group that can be characterised by multiple and diverse dimensions. As such, defining Traveller Communities is not straightforward, 1 and the use of terms such as ‘Gypsy’ and ‘Traveller’ is contested both within and outside Traveller Communities. 2 The phrase ‘Traveller Communities’ is used as an overarching term to describe multiple cultural and ethnic groups with diverse histories and customs, including Romani Gypsies, Irish Travellers, Welsh Travellers, Scottish Travellers, Roma, New Travellers, Travelling Showpeople, Circus People and Boat Dwellers. 1 While a nomadic lifestyle is one distinguishing dimension of Traveller Communities, frequency of travel may vary within these groups, classified by Niner 3 as follows:

• full-time Travellers
• seasonal Travellers
• holiday Travellers
• special-occasion Travellers
• settled Travellers.

Although nomadism is often an important component of Traveller Community lives, a definition of Traveller Communities which rests solely on the basis of a travelling lifestyle is inadequate. Ethnic identity is not lost when members of the Communities settle, 1 and cultural practices, the importance of extended family, language and preference for self-employment have all been highlighted as important aspects of Traveller Community identity regardless of the frequency of travel. 4 Given this complexity, the definition of Traveller Communities in legal terms has been difficult. 5 The Race Relations Act recognises Roma, Gypsies and Irish Travellers as distinct ethnic groups, but does not afford the same protection to New Travellers and Occupational Travellers. 6 The following definition of Traveller Communities provided by the Housing Act was adopted for this review because of its inclusivity:

Persons with a cultural tradition of nomadism or of living in a caravan; and all other persons of a nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, including: i) such persons who, on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependent’s educational or health needs or old age, have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently; and ii) members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people (whether or not travelling together as such). Great Britain 2004 7

For the purpose of this report, the terms ‘Traveller Communities’, ‘Traveller Community’, ‘Gypsies and Travellers’ will be used to refer to all Traveller Community subgroups, except where referring only to a specific group (e.g. Roma or Showpeople). The term ‘settled community’ will be used to refer to non-Traveller community members.

Population size

Although it is estimated that there are between 10 and 12 million Roma and Travellers in Europe 8 and between 120,000 and 300,000 members of Traveller Communities living in the UK, 9 no definitive figures exist. The most recent figures from the biannual Gypsy and Traveller caravan count report 18,730 Gypsy and Traveller caravans in England, 10 924 caravans in Wales 11 and 684 Gypsy and Traveller households living on sites or encampments in Scotland. 12 However, the caravan count has been criticised for its reliability on account of the fact that it counts caravans rather than people and excludes the estimated two-thirds 13 of Traveller Community members who live in housing. 14 , 15 Following the longstanding absence of Traveller Communities from national population surveys, Gypsy and Irish Traveller Communities were included as ethnic categories in the national census, the General Household Survey and the Health Survey for England in 2011. 16 The 2011 UK Census reports 57,680 Gypsies and Irish Travellers living in England and Wales. 17 However, this is likely to be a significant underestimate owing to reluctance of Traveller Community members to self-identify due to fear of discrimination, low levels of literacy impacting on ability to complete census forms, failure to engage marginalised groups such as members of Traveller Communities living on unauthorised sites, and the inclusion of only those Traveller Communities recognised as ethnic groups. 18 Drawing together the figures from Local Authority Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments across England, the Irish Traveller Movement in Britain 18 reports that the total population of Traveller Communities in England in 2012 was 122,785.

The lack of reliable data on the demography of Traveller Communities, combined with the mobility of these groups, may lead to their invisibility throughout the planning of health service provision and result in needs being unmet. 19 Dar et al. 16 conducted a geographical mapping of the numbers of Traveller Communities using existing data sources and compared this with knowledge of Traveller Communities, immunisation service provision and estimated immunisation rates among Health Protection Units surveyed in England. Knowledge of Health Protection Units of Traveller Community populations and their uptake of immunisation was found to be low in a number of areas and there was no apparent association between service provision and numbers of Traveller Community members in a local area. Traveller Communities account for a small proportion of the total current UK population of 63.2 million, even when considering upper estimates of numbers. Any intervention targeted at improving Traveller Community health is, therefore, likely to have a very limited impact on overall population health.

Commonalities with other marginalised populations

While Traveller Communities represent a small proportion of the overall population, health policy highlights a number of commonalities with regard to needs and challenges for service provision across a range of socially excluded groups, including Traveller Communities. 20 The synthesis of evidence on outreach interventions for the health improvement of Traveller Communities, therefore, contributes to understanding what works to improve the health of other disengaged or marginalised groups, and therefore to the achievement of ‘resulting economies of scale and purpose by identifying common needs and service specifications across groups’ (p. 6). 20 The life circumstances of marginalised groups and the corresponding lack of responsiveness by services often results in costly patterns of service use by these groups, for example multiple or frequent attendance and reliance on acute services such as accident and emergency (A&E) as opposed to utilisation of primary care. 20 As such, efforts to improve the health of excluded groups and the accessibility and uptake of health services may contribute to reducing costs associated with the treatment of illness. The focus on subsections of the population who experience particularly acute health disparities can also be justified morally. As Marmot 21 comments, ‘Reducing health inequalities is a matter of fairness and social justice’ (p. 15). While a focus only on the most disadvantaged sections of the population will not alone alleviate the social gradient of health inequalities, it is acknowledged that the intensity of intervention needs to be tailored to the degree of disadvantage experienced, and that more concentrated efforts will be needed to tackle the multiple and extensive disadvantage experienced by some groups. 21

Health needs of Traveller Communities

This report does not attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of the health status and needs of Traveller Communities, which is reported extensively elsewhere. 6 , 14 , 22 – 24 Rather, it aims to illustrate the spectrum of health inequalities experienced by Traveller Communities which outreach interventions might be seeking to address.

Traveller Community health status

The lack of data on the Traveller Community population has limited the generation of robust evidence on their comparative health status 14 and, as such, findings need to be interpreted with caution. However, the available evidence points to inequalities experienced by Traveller Communities across many domains of health.

General health and well-being

Traveller Communities have been reported to have poorer general health and well-being than other groups. The mortality of Traveller Communities in the Republic of Ireland (ROI) was found to be three and a half times greater than that of the general population, dropping only 13% compared with a decline of 35% in the general population over the last 20 years. 25

The health status of Traveller Communities in the UK is also significantly worse than that of other socioeconomically disadvantaged or ethnic minority groups. 19 , 26 Traveller Communities scored poorer on measures of overall health than age–sex matched comparators [assessed using the European Quality of Life-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) measure of health, mean difference 0.12; p  = 0.001] as well as on all individual dimensions of mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain or discomfort and anxiety and depression. 19 These differences in health status between Traveller and settled communities remain even after controlling for smoking status as well as age and sex. 26 Peters et al. 26 also found Traveller Communities to have significantly poorer health than African Caribbean, Pakistani Muslim and white ethnic groups, as assessed using the EQ-5D (mean scores of 74.9, 83.5, 92.6, and 85.5, respectively; p  < 0.001).

Traveller Communities reported higher levels of anxiety (mean scores of 9.0 compared with scores of 6.2 for African Caribbean and Pakistani Muslim participants, and 5.7 for white participants) and depression (mean scores of 6.3 for Traveller Communities, 4.2 for African Caribbean participants, 3.8 for Pakistani Muslim participants and 3.1 for white participants), as assessed using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). 26 Qualitative studies which found that Traveller Communities clearly identified with symptoms of mental health and distress 27 , 28 provide further evidence in support of concerns around mental health in these groups. Furthermore, high rates of suicide are reported among Traveller Communities, with three times the rates of suicides among Irish Travellers between 2000 and 2006 compared with the general population. 29

Long-term conditions and specific illnesses

Members of Traveller Communities are more likely to have a long-term illness, health problem or disability that limits their everyday activities (42% of Traveller Communities and 31% of age–sex matched comparators; p  = 0.009). 19 Traveller Community members more often reported experiencing a number of conditions, including chronic cough (49% vs. 17%), chronic sputum (46% vs. 15%), bronchitis (41% vs. 10%), asthma (65% vs. 40%) and arthritis (22% vs. 10%), than did the comparator group. 19 This study, by Parry et al. , 19 found no difference between Traveller Communities and comparator groups in the prevalence of diabetes, stroke or cancer. However, the authors report that this may be a result of premature death or a reluctance to disclose conditions such as cancer. 19 Since the publication of this study, evidence from Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments suggests a higher prevalence of diabetes among Traveller Communities (4.6% of those surveyed in Cambridge and 11% in Dorset compared with 3.5% of the general population). 30 A smaller difference was found between Traveller community and African Caribbean and Pakistani groups for health in the past year, asthma and depression after adjustment for age, sex and smoking status. However, significant differences between these groups remained for the cough and sputum items of the respiratory questionnaire. 26 The collation and review of case-management information over a 4-year period revealed a disproportionate incidence of measles among Traveller Communities of more than 100 times that found in the wider population. 31

Maternal and child health

Studies have also raised concerns around the health of Traveller Community mothers and children. A disproportionate number of Traveller Community mothers were represented in the UK maternal mortality statistics for 1997–9 according to the Confidential Enquiry into Maternal Deaths. 32 Members of Traveller Communities more often reported having experienced one or more miscarriages than the comparator group (29% and 16%, respectively; p  < 0.001) and the premature death of a child (6.2% of Traveller Community women compared with none of the comparator women; p  < 0.001). 19 Results from the All Ireland Traveller Health Study, which suggest that infant mortality is almost four times greater than that of the general population, corroborate these findings. 33

An increased risk of low birthweight (< 2500 g) has been reported among Roma infants in Europe. For example, 14.1% of Roma infants were born with a low birthweight compared with 3.6% of non-Roma infants in the Czech Republic, with a difference of 373 g in birthweight. 34 Similar results have been reported in Hungary, where 26.2% of Gypsy infants were of low birthweight compared with 11.0% in the national sample, and where an overall difference in mean birthweight of 377 g was found. 35 However, the average birthweight of Traveller infants in Ireland was similar to that of the general population, and the growth rate for Traveller children was found to be comparable with the general population at 9 months, 33 suggesting that the evidence may be more mixed in this area.

Intragroup differences

A limited amount of evidence exists from which to establish differences between Traveller Community subgroups. Parry et al. 19 found no significant differences between Irish Travellers and English, Welsh or Scottish Gypsies, suggesting that these groups are likely to experience comparable health status. However, there is a lack of evidence on the health of non-ethnic groups, such as Showpeople and Occupational Travellers, 16 who share many of the risk factors for health experienced by other Travellers.

Studies suggest a relationship between frequency of travel and health, with those who travel reporting better health status; 19 , 36 however, causality is not clear, and this association could reflect a necessity for Traveller Community members with poorer health to settle in order to be close to services. 37

Inequalities of health appear to be particularly great among Traveller Community men. 26 Abdalla et al. 25 report the mortality rate of Traveller Community men in Ireland to be significantly higher than that for women (standard mortality rate of 469 compared with 232 respectively). Traveller Community men have been reported to be over nine times more likely than women to die by suicide, with these gender differences mirroring those found in the general population. 29

Determinants of Traveller Community health

Traveller Communities experience inequalities across the multiple determinants of health represented on Dahlgren and Whitehead’s Social Model of Health. 38 The contributions of these determinants to the poorer health of Traveller Communities are now explored in more detail.

Lifestyle factors

Individual members of Traveller Communities have been found to accept ill health and normalise signs of distress. 37 , 39 Poor health expectations, fear about potential diagnoses and structural constraints resulting from eviction or difficulties in finding appropriate stopping places have all been suggested as factors leading to a lack of prioritisation of preventative health care and services such as screening. 39 , 40 In addition, the literature highlights cultural beliefs of Traveller Communities that govern the body and have a bearing on health practices and which are important for health advisors to be aware of, albeit with the proviso that cultural beliefs and practices may vary across different Traveller Communities and the individuals within them. Okely 41 demonstrates the ways in which beliefs about pollution and associated rituals around washing, eating, use of space and placement of objects enacted serve to reinforce a distinction between Travellers and settled communities. For example, the outer body and skin (the interface for engagement with settled community members) is distinguished from and viewed as potentially polluting to the inner body. 41 These beliefs are embodied in practices such as the use of separate washing bowls for items used for cooking and eating from those used for washing the body, and ensuring that anything entering the body through the mouth is ‘ritually clean’. 41 Health practices such as immunisation might, therefore, be viewed as polluting because they transgress the distinction between inner and outer body. While pollution beliefs apply to both men and women, the potential for women to be polluting is greater during menstruation and childbirth as bodily waste from the lower body poses a particular threat of pollution. 41 Women’s sexuality is also potentially polluting and codes of behaviour may be evident to protect against this, for example not revealing certain body parts and women not spending time alone with men other than their husbands. Concerns relating to modesty are likely to impact on the acceptability of behaviours such as breastfeeding and have consequences for health service delivery, including the need to ensure that Traveller Community women are able to access a female health practitioner.

The literature points to a higher number of modifiable risk factors that may contribute to the poorer health of these groups. A greater proportion of Traveller Communities than the general population are current smokers (around 50% compared with around 37%, respectively). 42 Smaller numbers of Traveller Community members report drinking alcohol than the general population, but those who do consume alcohol do so more often (around 65% of male and 40% of female Travellers drink six or more alcoholic drinks on days when they are drinking alcohol compared with around 35% of men and 17% of women in the comparator population). 42

Compared with the general population, fewer Traveller Community members reported eating at least five portions of fruit and vegetables in Ireland (65% and 45%, respectively). 42 A smaller-scale study conducted in Wrexham also reported that Traveller Communities have a poorer diet and lower levels of physical activity than the Welsh and UK population, as well as residents from a deprived local area. 43 Traveller Communities more often reported high blood pressure or cholesterol in the past year (36.5% of Traveller Community members compared with 28.3% of medical card holders in the general population). 42

The literature reports a low uptake of immunisation and well-women services among Traveller Communities. 44 Only around 2.2% of Traveller mothers initiate breastfeeding compared with around 50% of those in the general population. 33

Social and community networks

Extended family provides an important source of social support among Traveller Communities, with family members often expected to provide care for family members who are older or unwell. 37 As such, a positive model of ageing is cited among Traveller Communities, with older Traveller Community members less likely to experience social isolation and loneliness. 45 In addition, elder members of Traveller Communities are often important sources of advice on health, with a higher number of Traveller Community members reporting being supported by parents than the general population (69.6% of Travellers compared with 38.3% of the general population). 42 However, owing to a lack of space on authorised sites, and as Traveller Community members often resort to housed accommodation in order to avoid cycles of frequent eviction, members often find themselves separated from family and community support systems. 46

Living and working conditions

Accommodation, water and sanitation.

Around one in four Traveller Community members living in caravans do not have a legal place to park their home, 5 and are thus forced to live on unauthorised encampments from which they are frequently evicted. Many of the sites provided are of poor quality, are built on contaminated land, are close to motorways, pose significant fire safety risks, are contaminated by vermin, have poor-quality utility rooms, and have chronically decayed sewage and water fittings. 3 , 5 , 6 , 47 – 49 Traveller Communities experience difficulties in obtaining planning permission for privately owned land due to opposition from local residents. 6 Large numbers of Travellers surveyed in the All Ireland Traveller Health Study who lived on sites or in group housing schemes (designed to enable Travellers to live together in extended family groups) reported a lack of footpaths [40.8% in ROI and 33.0% in Northern Ireland (NI)], public lighting (39.4% in ROI and 20.7% in NI), fire hydrants (73.7% in ROI and 60% in NI) and safe play areas (77.5% in ROI and 79.9% in NI). 42 Places of living were viewed as unhealthy or very unhealthy by around 24.4% of Travellers in the ROI and 24.8% in NI, while 26.4% of Travellers in the ROI and 29% in NI considered thier place of living to be unsafe. 42

Access to services

Traveller Communities face practical challenges in accessing mainstream services owing to discrimination faced on registering with services, lack of a permanent address and high levels of illiteracy. 6 , 39 Peters et al. 26 report that only 69% of Traveller Communities were permanently registered with a general practitioner (GP) compared with ≥96% of Pakistani Muslim, African Caribbean and white participants. By contrast, findings on Traveller Community access to services in Ireland suggest that Travellers do access preventative screening 42 and have similar use of GP services to comparators among the general population (unadjusted rates of 74.2% vs. 75.3%). 50 However, despite these higher rates of access, Traveller Community members rated their experiences of accessing health services less positively. 50 Traveller Communities were less likely than other ethnic groups to have accessed dental services (47% of Gypsies and Travellers compared with 77% of white, 67% of African Caribbean and 63% of Pakistani Muslim participants) or opticians (14% of Gypsies and Travellers compared with 43% of white, 42% of African Caribbean and 49% of Pakistani Muslim participants). 26 As a consequence of difficulties in accessing GP services, Traveller Communities may be more likely to attend acute or reactive services. Beach 51 reports that children from Traveller Community sites attend A&E departments twice as often as settled children in the neighbouring areas. Peters et al. 26 found that Gypsies and Travellers had been in contact with A&E departments more often (24% of Traveller Communities) than had African Caribbean (21%), Pakistani Muslim (16%) and white participants (12%) ( p   =  0.025).

Work environment and unemployment

The decline in traditional trades undertaken by Traveller Communities has resulted in many families becoming economically excluded and has necessitated their adaptation or assimilation into mainstream modes of employment. 52 Although there is diversity within the Community with respect to socioeconomic status, 52 Travelling Communities overall are cited as experiencing high levels of poverty and low employment. 6 In response to such changes, education is viewed as increasingly important in order to secure the welfare of future generations. 53

Gypsies and Travellers have much poorer educational outcomes, with < 10% of Traveller Community pupils attaining five GCSEs (General Certificates of Secondary Education) or equivalent at A* to C grades, including English and maths, compared with over 50% of the average population. 54 Traveller Community children are noted to have the worst school attendance profile of any ethnic minority group. 55 Absence rates for the years 2007–8 were higher than for other groups for both primary (24.2% for Travellers of Irish heritage, 19.0% for Gypsy/Roma, 5.3% for all pupils) and secondary school (27.3% for Travellers of Irish heritage, 23.5% for Gypsy/Roma, 7.4% for all pupils). 56 Gypsies and Travellers are four times more likely to be excluded from secondary school than any other group. 57 In addition, Traveller Community children are more likely to attend schools with below average results. 56

General socioeconomic, cultural and environmental conditions

There is explicit racism and discrimination directed towards Traveller Communities in society, with this being regarded as the last accepted form of prejudice in England. 58 There is little recognition of the culture or heritage of Traveller Communities and an absence of positive portrayals of Traveller Community lifestyles in mainstream society. 6 A study of media coverage of Traveller Communities in Scotland found a disproportionate amount of coverage relating to these groups (an average of 1.5 articles per day), with nearly half (48%) classified as overly negative portrayals. 59 The under-representation of Traveller Community members in political activities means that they have little voice to challenge such representations. 6 Systems of health service provision contribute to the exclusion of Traveller Communities. For example, it is suggested that GP surgeries might be reluctant to register Traveller Communities due to the extra paperwork required when taking on temporary residents and perceptions that registering Traveller Community members will affect GPs’ ability to meet performance targets around immunisation. 60

Research on the effectiveness of outreach interventions for Traveller Communities

There are efforts to tackle health inequalities faced by Traveller Communities, as evidenced through recent funding sources. 20 , 61 – 63 Examples of outreach programmes cited as offering potential are diverse, including, for instance, a Community mothers programme, 64 trained outreach workers from Traveller Communities, 6 , 22 and mobile health clinics or play buses. 6 , 22 A review of health-care interventions for Traveller Communities recommended outreach and the employment of trained health workers from the Community as culturally appropriate and promising components of interventions. 22

However, most initiatives aiming to improve health for Traveller Communities have been initiated in recent years and are as yet unlikely to have yielded significant evidence of impact. Few published reports with robust study designs, such as randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and controlled trials, examine the effectiveness of interventions to improve health in Traveller Communities. A review of the range and quality of evidence on the health of Traveller Communities reveals that studies are rarely well designed and tend to use process rather than outcome measures as indicators of success. 14 While this provides important indicators of culturally sensitive interventions, there is a dearth of reported evidence of improvements in health status. 14 , 65 The heterogeneity of the evidence base, combined with contextual intricacies of a diverse and complex population, raised significant challenges for evidence synthesis.

Defining outreach and its purpose

A number of challenges have been identified in meeting the health-care needs of the most socially excluded and vulnerable groups in society. For Traveller Communities and other socially excluded groups who have multiple and complex needs, engagement with and access to preventative care may be afforded a low priority. 66 Mainstream health service provision is often ill adapted to the complicated everyday lives of these groups, for which flexibility and co-ordination across different health- and social-care systems is required. 20 Outreach has, therefore, been utilised as a key strategy to engage those who, through processes of social exclusion or socioeconomic deprivation, occupy a position on the margins of society and are considered ‘hard to reach’. 66 While outreach approaches have, in general, been endorsed in commissioning guidance for improving the health of marginalised groups, 67 at present, little detail is given around the specific strategies that are likely to make outreach effective in different contexts.

Owing to the focus of outreach on engagement, and responding to the unique needs of individuals and groups, conceptualisation of approaches to outreach have often been couched in terms of the personal and attitudinal qualities of outreach workers, rather than in terms of methods. 68 For example, the unidirectional nature of the vulnerability between outreach workers and those they attempt to engage, as well as the shared experiences during encounters, are important aspects of the outreach dynamic. 68 However, it is precisely these aspects of outreach that are difficult to articulate and which introduce hidden variability in outreach programmes.

Further diversity in implementation results from the inability to predict the problems that outreach work will need to address. Mackenzie et al. 66 present the following ‘continuum of complexity’ to describe the potential reasons for a lack of engagement that outreach might need to address and the different shapes outreach might take in response:

• Not receiving engagement invitation letter: outreach works as a ‘health-care postal worker’ to deliver the invitation personally and overcome information gaps in service systems.
• Literacy or health literacy barriers: outreach worker acts to ‘bridge gaps in understanding’, providing information and responding to questions about services.
• Lack of priority afforded to preventative health: outreach worker takes a ‘translational role’ to highlight an individual’s candidacy for preventative treatment amid other lifestyle pressures.
• Psychosocial barriers to engagement: outreach worker utilises strategies such as motivational interviewing and/or signposting to other services to alleviate barriers preventing access.
• Structural barriers to engagement: outreach workers use signposting, referral and mobilisation of community networks to address broader issues relating to housing, unemployment and debt and co-ordinate the involvement of different agencies.
• Hidden and multidimensional nature of problem: outreach workers take the role of ‘assessing readiness for action or change’, treating engagement as a process and working incrementally to address multiple issues.

The conditions in which outreach is delivered can be highly unpredictable and beyond the outreach worker’s influence. 68 In addition, the extension of outreach into people’s personal spaces might display aspects of their vulnerability more clearly and evoke feelings of intrusion and potentially unwelcoming responses in those approached. 68 As a result, outreach workers need to be accustomed to the ‘spatial organisation’ of their surroundings and have awareness of social networks and potential change agents, group movements and meeting points. 68 For example, outreach workers in the study reported by Dickson-Gómez et al. 69 had to be sensitive to the social codes and dynamics operating in areas of injection drug use, including the impact that outreach had on the business of drug use through attracting crowds and inviting police attention. In the case of outreach with Traveller Communities, outreach workers may need to demonstrate awareness of the ways Traveller sites and personal spaces are organised to uphold cleanliness and avoid pollution, 41 as described above.

Challenges to the evaluation of outreach

The emphasis on the specificity of outreach to particular target groups or contexts has been argued to limit possibilities for the conceptual development of outreach. 68 Indeed, the distinctiveness between outreach implementation models and the boundaries between outreach and other forms of interventions, such as peer support interventions, are not always clear in the literature.

Outreach fits into the category of a complex intervention as defined in the Medical Research Council (MRC) guidance, 70 in that it is not standardised and is highly sensitive to local contextual issues. As described above, interventions are often highly individualised, 71 implemented in diverse settings and delivered by several different people. 72 In addition, implementation fidelity may be problematic in outreach interventions, as greater flexibility and variability is required in delivery. 71 , 73

The lengthy chain of causality between the delivery of outreach interventions and outcomes also presents a challenge for evaluation. Given the role of outreach in facilitating access to mainstream services, the role of the outreach programme in generating concrete improvements in health behaviour or outcomes may be difficult to disentangle from the impact of other interventions or organisations. 68 Thus, the success of outreach workers in terms of making and sustaining contacts is argued to be a key intermediary outcome in assessing the effectiveness of outreach interventions. 68

Such characteristics pose challenges for articulating 71 and documenting the processes of outreach, 74 thereby placing it at odds with the emphasis on standardisation in clinical trials. 75 As Mackenzie et al. 66 summarise:

Outreach has been described as eclectic in its purpose, client group and specific mode of practice and, as a direct result of this heterogeneity, little is known about its effectiveness. Mackenzie et al . 2011, 66 p. 352

There is, therefore, a need for greater theoretical development on the particular approaches and underpinning mechanisms of outreach most likely to lead to positive outcomes in particular contexts. 66 , 68 , 76 In doing so, there appears to be a need to achieve a balance between the generalisation and specificity of understandings of outreach across different contexts. 68

Definition of outreach adopted for this review

In order to provide greater focus for this review, and in line with the agenda to tackle health inequalities, the current work will be focused on outreach efforts that aim to engage Traveller Communities in a health-related agenda. For the purpose of this review, the following broad definition of outreach was adopted:

[A] process that involves going out from a specific organisation or centre to work in locations with sets of people who typically do not or cannot avail themselves of the services of that centre. McGivney 2000, 77 p. 11

In addition, following MacKenzie et al. , 66 outreach was considered to involve the alleviation of both ‘physical as well as ideological gaps between services and users’ (p. 2).

• Changes in the review process

Initially, it was proposed that a meta-analysis or narrative synthesis (dependent on data quality) and realist synthesis of evidence on outreach interventions for health improvement of Traveller Communities would be undertaken. However, following the processes of searching for and appraising the quality of evidence, it became clear that it was of insufficient quality to lend itself to a narrative synthesis. Of the 407 studies obtained and assessed on full text, only 12 articles described and evaluated outreach interventions and would have been eligible for inclusion in a narrative synthesis. A process of quality assessment categorised two of these 12 items as ‘moderate’ and 10 items as ‘weak’ using the Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies 78 for quantitative studies and the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme checklist for qualitative research. 79 Furthermore, the studies focused on disparate topics, including teenage health, primary health care, support following childbirth, oral health, drug use, prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, domestic violence, health advocate training, and a health mediator programme. The small number of robust studies examining diverse programmes meant that it would have been impossible to identify patterns of effectiveness of component intervention techniques for the health improvement of Traveller Communities. It was therefore decided to undertake a scoping review in conjunction with the realist synthesis. The study protocol is presented in Appendix 1 .

Characterised by breadth rather than depth of approach, 80 the scoping review identifies the extent and range of research activity 81 on outreach programmes for the health improvement of Traveller Communities. Scoping reviews are noted to be particularly insightful for areas of emerging evidence not amenable to systematic review, 82 as for outreach interventions for Traveller Communities, and have been used successfully to capture the sense of a broad disparate literature base 83 such as that described above. The wide-ranging coverage of the literature offered by the scoping review, therefore, provides a comprehensive overview of the available evidence in the area, and scaffolds the realist synthesis by situating the evidence on outreach programmes for Traveller Communities within the wider body of literature on Traveller health.

• Objectives and focus of the review

Scoping review

The scoping review aimed to examine the extent, range and nature of research activity and map the range of research rather than describe key findings, in accordance with Arksey and O’Malley’s 84 recommendations. It aims to answer the following research question:

What is the extent (quantity) and content of available research evidence concerning the health of Traveller Communities?

Economic evaluation

Following the scoping review, the economic evaluation classifies the different types of outreach interventions, estimates their cost and provides an estimate of whether or not interventions might be considered cost-effective.

Realist synthesis

A realist synthesis acknowledges the complexity of interventions and focuses on the explanation of how, for whom and in what circumstances they work. 85 As such, a realist synthesis necessitates the clarification of the purpose of the review, research questions and key theories that will be addressed, a process that often continues to the later stages of the review. 85 This phase involves ‘a careful dissection of the theoretical underpinnings of the intervention, using the literature in the first instance, not to examine the empirical evidence but to map out in broad terms the conceptual and theoretical territory’ (p. V). 85 In order to facilitate reading and transparency of this continual process, the conceptual and theoretical territory is detailed in Chapter 3 .

Four initial theories

An initial exploratory scoping of the literature to clarify the focus of the research concentrated on the origins and nature of Traveller Communities as an ethnic group, their differential health status and outreach as a health intervention. This process was partly formalised through the scoping review and completed by consultation with expert members of the project steering group. This led to the articulation of the following initial programme theories on outreach interventions in Traveller Communities:

• The cultural distinctiveness and particular needs of Traveller Communities mean that outreach forms a key ‘bridge’ between them and statutory health services (‘by whom’).
• The cultural background (being a peer) of outreach workers is key to the success of their intervention because that enables them to use the right communication tools to reach out to individual Travellers (‘to whom’).
• Degree of formality and responsiveness to need are key levers for participation (‘how’).
• Key aims of outreach are to tackle health inequalities through engagement, advocacy and education (‘what for’).

The focus on Traveller Communities in theory 1 offers an insight into the context of outreach interventions. The reviewers’ expertise in peer and lay intervention guided the formulation of theories 2 and 3 as potential mechanisms of outreach and theory 4 offers an opportunity to delve into the purposes and achievements of outreach in this group (outcomes). Thus, these theories offer an avenue to formulate the kinds of Context–Mechanism–Outcome (CMO) configurations that are the cornerstone of realist thinking. These four initial theories clearly are not designed to be tested against null hypotheses, but rather are explanatory in their formulation. The distinguishing feature of a realist synthesis is the theories it develops, which aim to explain why interventions such as outreach lead to particular outcomes in particular contexts. The overall purpose of the review is to neither confirm nor refute them but rather to improve their explanatory potential. They are designed as a guide to frame the subsequent phases of the research, articulate questions posed of the evidence and refine our understanding of how and in what circumstances outreach interventions in the Communities ‘work’. These initial four theories are also used over and again in the process of extracting and synthesising the evidence, as a way of describing different modes of outreach and as explanations of why some programmes seem to flourish better than others. They therefore form the key objectives and focus of the realist review.

Included under terms of UK Non-commercial Government License .

• Cite this Page Carr SM, Lhussier M, Forster N, et al. Outreach programmes for health improvement of Traveller Communities: a synthesis of evidence. Southampton (UK): NIHR Journals Library; 2014 Jul. (Public Health Research, No. 2.3.) Chapter 1, Introduction.
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Gypsies and Travellers

Travelling showpeople.

Travelling showpeople are defined as Members of a group organised for the purposes of holding fairs, circuses or shows (whether or not travelling together as such).

This includes people who have ceased to travel temporarily, on the grounds of their families or dependent's more localised pattern of trading, educational or health needs or old age; however this excludes Gypsies and Travellers.

Although their work is of a mobile nature, showpeople nevertheless require secure, permanent bases for the storage and repair of their equipment and places to live when not on the road. In recent years many showpeople have had to leave traditional sites, which have been displaced by other forms of development.

Many showpeople are members of the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain and are required by the Guild to follow a strict code of practice regulating the use of their sites. Membership of the Guild provides showpeople with exemption from the site licensing requirements of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 when they are travelling for the purpose of their business, or where they only occupy quarters for a period between the beginning of October and the following March.

Showmen's Guild of Great Britain

Showmen's guild of great britain best practice advice, what are travelling showpeople yards (pitches).

Showpeople's sites do not neatly fit into any definition of any one land use category.

The sites combine a residential use (siting of their mobile caravans) with a commercial use, attained by storing and maintaining fairground equipment.

Showpeople require a pitch to contain an area for the siting of mobile homes, caravans and parking, a recreational area, storage and maintenance area and associated drainage and refuse facilities.

North West Travelling showpeople's current base location and operating patterns

Status of current encampments

Unauthorised encampment or development

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South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations Development Plan Document

South worcestershire traveller and travelling showpeople policy and site allocations development plan document - publication consultation (regulation 19) , this consultation has now closed.

The South Worcestershire Councils (Malvern Hills District Council, Worcester City Council and Wychavon District Council) have a responsibility to plan for the housing needs of all residents, including the Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople community under The Housing and Planning Act 2016.

The Government’s national Planning Policy for Traveller Sites requires local planning authorities to identify a supply of deliverable Traveller sites to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against locally set targets, and sufficient developable sites, or broad locations, for years 6 to 10 and, where possible, for years 11 to 15.

The South Worcestershire Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA, 2019) identified a need for 104 Traveller pitches in the period to 2041 (30 from 2019 – 2023, 20 between 2024 – 2028, 22 between 2029 – 2033 and 32 between 2034 – 2041). Between March 2019 and August 2022, 49 Traveller pitches were granted planning permission across south Worcestershire, leaving an outstanding requirement for 55 pitches in the period to 2041. Additionally, the GTAA identified a need for 10 Travelling Showpeople plots in the period to 2041. 2 Showpeople plots have been granted planning consent since March 2019.

To meet the identified need, the South Worcestershire Councils have prepared a Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) to accompany the Local Plan (the South Worcestershire Development Plan). The DPD proposes additional Traveller pitches on two existing sites:

• The Paddocks at Newlands near Malvern
• The Hill, Canada Bank, Charlton

The following 2 existing sites are also allocated in the Traveller DPD but not for any additional pitches over and above those already granted planning consent; the sites are included should the latest planning permissions lapse:

• The Orchard, Knowle Hill, Evesham
• Blossom Hill, Village Street, Aldington

To help meet the medium to longer term needs of Travellers or Travelling Showpeople, new sites are also proposed on the new and expanded settlements at Worcestershire Parkway, Rushwick and Throckmorton, together with a site on each of the urban extensions at Worcester South and Worcester West.

In addition to proposing specific site allocations to meet the identified needs of Travellers and Travelling Showpeople, the DPD also includes draft policies to ensure that development proposals for Traveller and Travelling Showpeople sites are appropriately located and designed.

We are currently holding a six week consultation on the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD that runs from 1 November 2022 until 13 December 2022 ending at 23:59.

On this page you can find out more about the Development Plan Document and how you can get involved.

Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19)

Read or download the South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19) document.

pdf South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19) ( 1.68 MB )

If you want to view a paper copy of the document then then it is available from the following locations:

Worcester City

• Customer Service Centre  Guildhall, High Street, Worcester, WR1 2EY
• Worcester Library  The Hive, Sawmill Walk, The Butts, Worcester, WR1 3PB
• St Johns Library  Glebe Close, St Johns, Worcester, WR2 5AX
• Warndon Library  The Fairfield Centre, Carnforth Drive, Worcester, WR4 9HG
• Pershore Community Contact Centre  Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore WR10 1PT
• Pershore Library  Church St, Pershore, WR10 1DT
• Evesham Community  Contact Centre  Abbey Road, Evesham, WR11 4SB
• Evesham Library  Oat St, Evesham, WR11 4PJ
• Droitwich Spa Community  Contact Centre / Library  Droitwich Spa Library, Victoria Square, Droitwich Spa, WR9 8DQ
• Broadway Library  Leamington Road, Broadway, WR12 7DZ

Malvern Hills

• Reception  The Council House Avenue Road Malvern WR14 3AF
• Malvern Library  Graham Road, Malvern, WR14 2HU
• Tenbury Wells Customer  Service Centre / Library  24 Teme Street, Tenbury Wells, WR15 8AA
• Upton-upon-Severn  Customer Service Centre/  Library  School Lane, Upton upon Severn, WR8 0LE

Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Proposed Site Allocations – Interactive Consultation Policies Map

You can use the SWDP Review Interactive Policies Map to look in more detail at the location of the proposed Traveller and Travelling Showpeople site allocations:

• SWDP Review Interactive Policies Map

South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19) Evidence Base

A large amount of technical evidence and assessments have been produced to support the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD:

• pdf South Worcestershire Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA), October 2019 ( 1.59 MB )
• pdf Further Revised Site Assessment Background Report, September 2022 ( 636 KB )
• pdf Sustainability Appraisal Report – Non-Technical Summary, October 2022 ( 603 KB )
• pdf Sustainability Appraisal Report October 2022 ( 751 KB )
• pdf Sustainability Appraisal Report – Appendix A: Alternatives Assessments, October 2022 ( 1.11 MB )
• pdf Sustainability Appraisal Report – Appendix B: Policies Assessments, October 2022 ( 501 KB )
• pdf Habitats Regulations Assessment – Screening Report, October 2022 ( 854 KB )
• pdf Statement of Consultation (Final Draft), September 2022 ( 468 KB )
• pdf Equalities Impact Assessment, September 2022 ( 412 KB )

South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19)

From 1 November 2022 until 13 December 2022 at 23:59 we are consulting on the South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19).

This is the last stage of public engagement before the DPD is submitted for formal examination by the Government’s Planning Inspectorate.

The South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19) represents what the South Worcestershire Councils consider to be the final version of the DPD. 

What comments can I make on the South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19)?

At Regulation 19, the consultation is focused on whether the plan is legally compliant and meets the tests of soundness.  

For the Development Plan Document to be considered sound it must meet four tests:

• Positively prepared –  is the DPD based on a strategy that seeks to meet the area’s objectively assessed needs, has been informed by agreements with other authorities and is consistent with achieving sustainable development?
• Justified –  does the DPD have an appropriate strategy when considered against reasonable alternatives and is it based on robust and proportionate evidence?
• Effective –  is the DPD deliverable over the plan period and based on effective joint working on cross-boundary strategic matters?
• Consistent with national policy  – is the DPD enabling the delivery of sustainable development in accordance with the National Planning Policy Framework and other statements of national planning policy, where relevant?

In addition to these four tests, the Development Plan Document must also meet the following legal obligations:

• Legal Compliance  – does the DPD meet the legal requirements made under various planning laws?
• Duty to Cooperate  – Have the three South Worcestershire Councils engaged and worked effectively with neighbouring authorities and statutory bodies? In particular, the South Worcestershire Councils have a legal duty to cooperate with neighbouring councils to help meet their strategic housing requirements.

When submitting comments our forms will ask you to refer to a policy or paragraph in the Development Plan Document or supporting documents and to explain why you think it is or is not legally compliant or sound.

You will also be asked to put forward the change that you feel needs to be made to make the Development Plan Document legally compliant or sound, including any revised wording.

You can attach supporting documents to support your representation.

Only comments made during the consultation can be considered. While all comments submitted will be passed on to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration during the next stage of the review only those about soundness and legal compliance are likely to be considered.

How can I comment on the South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations Publication Consultation (Regulation 19)?

• Use our online comment form:  document South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Reg 19 Response Form ( 280 KB )
• by post : South Worcestershire Development Plan, c/o Wychavon Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore, Worcestershire, WR10 1PT
• Collect a paper copy of the form from one of the deposit locations (listed above) and send it back to us.

Speaking at the Examination

After the South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Policy and Site Allocations DPD Publication Consultation (Regulation 19) has finished, the DPD will be submitted to the Government’s Planning Inspectorate for Examination. A Planning Inspector will be appointed to review the DPD to determine if it is legally compliant and sound.

As part of this process, the Planning Inspector will hold a series of public hearings.  The dates and format of these hearings will be set by the Planning Inspector and further details will be made available nearer the time.   

The consultation form has a section where you can register your interest in speaking at the Examination.

Further information

If you have any questions, please contact us:

Postal Address:

South Worcestershire Development Plan, Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore, WR10 1PT

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Showtime: what the future holds for Scotland's travelling showpeople

Philip Paris flicks through old photos on his phone.

“This is 1993. That’s me driving onto the fairground at Hamilton. And that was the big showman’s caravan that we had. That was the children’s bedroom, there,” he says, pointing to a window at the back of the 12ft-wide vehicle. “This was our bedroom at the end, and this was the bathroom. I sold that about 18 years ago.”

Paris is almost completely lost in his memories as he continues to scroll through dozens of pictures and reminisce about the former home he shared for so many years with his wife, Hayley, and their three children as they travelled up and down the country.

Born into a family of travelling showmen, Paris has spent most of his life on the road, driving from site to site across Scotland, supplying the kind of candyfloss memories that every child growing up in a small Scottish town will cherish forever.

But things are a lot different now.

The fairground business, like any industry with roots dating back to medieval times, has had to adapt to the changing market of the 21st century, and the days of generations of families travelling around the country together are all but gone for a lot of showpeople.

My generation is probably the last generation where when you attended the fairs, your home went with you

Now, most have some form of permanent residence in static caravans or prefab buildings – situated within what the community calls “yards” – to give families a base, and they travel to fairs in smaller caravans, staying overnight only when necessary or when the commute is too far.

Paris, who has recently been elected as the president of the Showmen’s Guild of Great Britain – the first Scottish president since the 1950s – says he is probably from the last generation of showmen who travelled around in large caravans for weeks or months at a time with their families and admits the fairground community has “suffered” in recent years.

“It’s not the same as it used to be. There’s not the same community spirit,” says Paris. “When you’re on the fairs, if it’s close enough to Glasgow, most people will not stay the night, whereas we used to all be there together. The young lads would be out having a game of football at the end of the day.”

And although he acknowledges that times change, there is a tinge of sadness about the loss of what went before.

“I’ll be honest, I do miss the big caravan,” he admits. “We had it built when we were engaged. It was built at Haddington and it wasn’t finished when we got it as we didn’t have enough money to finish it, so the inside of it, for the most part, I did myself.

“My generation is probably the last generation where when you attended the fairs, your home went with you. If you were at Hamilton for two weeks, you went to school in Hamilton.”

But he adds: “With the best will in the world, you were never going to get a great education like that. I’ve had a reasonable education which stands me in good stead. I haven’t got any qualifications at all, but I realised the value of it, and I’ve encouraged it. One of my daughters has been to university and has a degree and has a good job now.

“Nowadays, it’s about the necessity for children to get a better education. My children travelled with us up until they went to secondary education. It was evident when they went to secondary, in order to get to where they wanted to be, it was never going to work travelling back and forwards.”

They have struggled to compete against modern technology, which sees most homes kitted out with entertainment systems and games consoles, reducing the need for young people to seek thrills at funfairs. Combine that with a rise in fuel prices, and the erratic approach to obtaining a licence in each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, and the financial burdens of operating funfairs stack up.

It is the latter that is the subject of a proposed new bill in the Scottish Parliament which is designed to reverse what is seen as a massive injustice and hopefully, will put the future of the industry on a more secure footing.

“The situation we have at the present time is we have 32 local authorities all charging 32 different prices for basically the same piece of paper to say you can open a funfair,” explains Paris. “They also have timescale differences, differences in who can object and for what reasons. It’s got to the stage where it’s unworkable.

“In Edinburgh, your normal person who has two or three rides, you’re talking thousands of pounds for a licence. You can go to other places and it will be £300/£400 to put the same thing on. If the amendment goes through – which we are very hopeful of – it will be a level playing field where it’s one fee for everywhere, and it’s the same timescale and everything else is the same.”

The plight of Scottish showmen has been picked up by several MSPs who are members of the Scottish Showmen’s Guild cross-party group – and in particular, the group’s convener, Richard Lyle, who put forward a member’s bill, the Funfairs Licensing (Scotland) Bill, in an attempt to simplify the rules and bring all fees in line with each other.

I don’t think it’s a dying industry, I think it’s changing

“The bill basically brings a three-month application down to a month, sets a fee of £50, which can then be increased in line with inflation, sets that showmen can nominate two sites and also sets that food vans are under the individual licence,” says Lyle.

He points out that showmen south of the border currently get a better deal than their Scottish counterparts, paying just a minimal amount for a licence and having a shorter, simpler application process.

“I actually posed as a showman and phoned about 40 English councils and basically was told, pay £22.50, apply five days in advance of your funfair, or you can just make a donation to charity.

“Funfairs and showpeople in Scotland have been up against it and as far as I’m concerned, this will open up, encourage and retain funfairs for quite a number of years. It will safeguard their livelihoods.”

Paris is hopeful that if passed, the bill will help to inject new life into the industry, something which he is passionate about, particularly in his new role as president of the Showmen’s Guild, but also on a personal level.

His great grandfather, Felice Parisi, was an Italian immigrant – his name was later anglicised – who moved to Scotland in the late 1870s and “somewhere down the line ended up travelling on the fairgrounds with a fish and chip cart”, according to Paris.

His father married the daughter of William Codona, who was part of the famous funfair family who opened up the now defunct Fun City in Portobello, Edinburgh – Scotland’s first permanent amusement park – and Codona’s Amusement Park in Aberdeen, which exists to this day.

Paris’ dad, also called Philip, died suddenly of a heart attack, aged just 52, but he knows his father would have been proud that he continued to work in the fairground business and that he has achieved the highest-ranking position within the Showmen’s Guild.

“I lost my dad when I was 18,” he says. “Of course, since then, I’ve got married and I’ve got my kids and I’ve got a granddaughter and I’ve done a lot of things. Time goes by and you think to yourself, ‘I wonder what my dad would have thought about this’, but I do know that if he was alive today, he would be the proudest man in Scotland. I’m proud to represent the community.”

Paris has been involved with the Showmen’s Guild for a number of years and was president of the Scottish section before being chosen to represent showmen across the UK.

Working with MPs at Westminster and MSPs at Holyrood, the guild protects the interests of its members and works hard to ensure that travelling showmen are not discriminated against through legislation or that their ability to make a living isn’t compromised.

But one thing that the guild hasn’t been able to change, despite its best efforts, is the stigma faced by travelling showpeople, particularly in the age of social media where people can hide behind their computer screens or phones to spread fear, lies and abuse.

“You get all this stuff going round on Facebook and social media, from people saying they don’t want a funfair,” Paris explains. “They say, ‘you won’t be able to walk your dogs because these people are well known for stealing people’s dogs’, or ‘I wouldn’t want to walk my children past those caravans because you don’t know who’s in them’. Who’s in them is us and our own families – we’re not interested in anyone else’s kids. This is the kind of stigma that’s attached. You can imagine how upsetting it is.

“There was a Taggart programme a few years back which caused us quite a bit of upset. The background was that there was a fair in Glasgow where a young girl had been found, murdered, outside the fair, and she had been murdered because she wasn’t from a fairground family and she got involved with a showman’s son, but he was promised to the MacGregor family, like some kind of arranged marriage.

“I can assure you that there’s never been, and never will be, anything like that in our community. I actually spoke to one of the producers at the time and said if you had just taken the trouble to listen to the real story, you’d find it much more interesting than what you make up. We’re just normal people. There’s a lot of discrimination.

“It makes it worse when sometimes you get local politicians siding with local residents against us because they want to be seen to be on their side, that they’re backing them up, and it’s not acceptable. If there’s a big problem with a fair that can’t be sorted, then you won’t be invited back. That’s the fact of the matter. If it’s causing too many problems, you just won’t get your licence.

“I think some of the public, and some politicians as well, think that we drive along the road and think, there’s a nice site, let’s just pull in there and operate a funfair. It’s never been like that and certainly never will be.

“We are not the same group as, for instance, Gypsy Travellers. And I don’t say anything derogatory about Gypsy Travellers and I make a point of that, it’s just that we are travelling showpeople and that’s what we want to be known as.”

Paris estimates there are around 200 families still operating funfairs in Scotland. And with 4,000 members of the Showmen’s Guild across the UK, he is still optimistic about the future of the fairground business.

“I don’t think it’s a dying industry, I think it’s changing,” he says. “There are some people within our business that are on the up and are accumulating a lot of equipment.

“I think there will always be people who want to be in it. There’s people who have two or three sons who are all interested in the business and want to move things forward. There are still some Codonas but at one time, they were at every fair. The name dies out. It makes me feel sad, to be honest.”

So what does the future hold for Paris, whose three children have all decided to take different paths in life, away from the funfair business?

“It’s a lot of hard work,” he replies, pragmatically. “There’s a time when you’ve got to say, enough’s enough. We run an embroidery business alongside the funfair so at some point, that will probably take over.”

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South Worcestershire Traveller and Travelling Showpeople

Site Allocations Development Plan Document

Preferred Options Consultation

Version: 9th February 2016 Contents

1. Introduction and Context 4

Purpose of the Consultation 4

How To Comment 4

Definition of Travellers and Travelling Showpeople 5

National Planning Policy Context 5

Local Plan Context 6

Policy SWDP 17 and Related Policies 6

Existing Provision of Traveller Pitches and Showpeople Plots in South 8 Worcestershire

Why We Need A Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations 8 Development Plan Document

2. What We Have Done So Far 9

Objectives 9

The Evidence Base 10

Development to Date 12

Call for Sites 13

Site Selection Process 13

Sustainability Appraisal 14

3. Proposed Site Allocations 15

Meeting The Need For Developable Traveller Pitches To 2020/21 15

Meeting The Need For Developable Pitches and Plots 16

4. Other Planning Issues 18

Tenure Of Proposed New Pitches 18

Nomadic Habit Of Life 18

Rural Exception Sites 19

2 Design Considerations 19

Safeguarding Of Sites 21

5. Next Steps 22

Appendix 1 Glossary 23

Appendix 2 Site Assessment Criteria and Detailed Considerations 26

Appendix 3 Proposed Site Allocations 28

Hillbee Farm, Upton upon Severn 30

The Orchard, Knowle Hill, Badsey 31

8 Evergreen Bank, Main Road, Cropthorne 32

Seven Acres, Main Road, Cropthorne 33

Blossom Hill, Village Street, Aldington 34

The Laurels, Bredon 35

Shorthill Caravan Park, Crossway Green 36

Broomhall Community and Norton Barracks Community (Worcester South 38 Urban Extension)

Temple Laugherne (Worcester West Urban Extension 39

3 1. Introduction and Context

Purpose of the Consultation

The South Worcestershire Councils (Malvern Hills, Worcester and Wychavon ) are preparing a Travellers and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) which will set out the requirement for the number of pitches and plots to be provided to meet the needs of Travellers and Travelling Showpeople in south Worcestershire over the coming years.

The final Development Plan Document will allocate sites, or extensions to existing Traveller and Travelling Showpeople sites, and will become part of the Development Plan for the South Worcestershire Councils (SWCs).

As a step towards producing the Development Plan Document this consultation document outlines the South Worcestershire Councils preferred options for how the future accommodation needs of Travellers and Travelling Showpeople can be met. This consultation paper identifies where potential new Traveller pitches could be allocated and also outlines more detailed planning issues that would need to be considered when dealing with Traveller and Travelling Showpeople related development.

How To Comment

The consultation period will run for 6 weeks from 14th March to 25th April 2016 and comments can be made in two ways:

 By email. To: [email protected] ; or

 By post. To: South Worcestershire Development Plan, c/o Wychavon Civic Centre, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Pershore , Worcestershire, WR10 1PT.

Further information about the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document and an electronic copy of the Response Form are available on the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP) website at http://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/?page_id=9752

Hard copies of this Consultation Document are also available at Council Customer Service Centres (CSC) and/or Libraries.

Please be aware that copies of representations will be made available for public inspection and cannot be treated as confidential. This information will include your name, organisation and your comment. Representations will also be available on the council’s website.

Inappropriate comments submitted as part of the consultation will not be considered. These may include, but are not be limited to, representations that are deemed to be racist or discriminatory.

4 Definition of Travellers and Travelling Showpeople

For the purposes of planning, Government’s Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (August 2015) defines Gypsies and Travellers as:

Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily, but excluding members of an organised group of Travelling Showpeople or circus people travelling together as such.

Planning Policy for Traveller Sites also says that “in determining whether persons are “gypsies and travellers” for the purposes of this planning policy, consideration should be given to the following issues amongst other relevant matters:

a) whether they previously led a nomadic habit of life b) the reasons for ceasing their nomadic habit of life c) whether there is an intention of living a nomadic habit of life in the future, and if so, how soon and in what circumstances.”

Travelling Showpeople are defined as:

Members of a group organised for the purposes of holding fairs, circuses or shows (whether or not travelling together as such). This includes such persons who on the grounds of their own or their family’s or dependants’ more localised pattern of trading, educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily, but excludes Gypsies and Travellers as defined above.

The National Planning Policy Context

The Government’s Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (paragraph 10) states that local planning authorities should, in producing their Local Plan “identify and update annually, a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide five years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets”. Further, Local Plans should “identify a supply of specific, developable sites or broad locations for growth, for years six to ten and, where possible, for years 11-15.”

The Planning Policy for Traveller Sites says that to be deliverable, sites should be:

 Available now;

 Offer a suitable location for development now; and be

 Achievable with a realistic prospect that housing will be delivered on the site within five years and in particular that development on the site is viable.

To be considered developable, sites should be in a suitable location for Traveller site development and there should be a reasonable prospect that the site is available and could be viably developed at the point envisaged.

The Government’s Planning Policy for Traveller Sites also says that “criteria should be set to guide land supply allocations where there is identified need. Where there is no identified

5 need, criteria-based policies should be included to provide a basis for decisions in case applications nevertheless come forward. Criteria based policies should be fair and should facilitate the traditional and nomadic life of travellers while respecting the interests of the settled community.” (paragraph 11)

Local Plan Context

The South Worcestershire Councils have been jointly preparing the South Worcestershire Development Plan (SWDP). The South Worcestershire Development Plan sets out the strategy, together with policies and site allocations to guide the location of development in south Worcestershire up to 2030.

One of the issues that the South Worcestershire Development Plan seeks to address is meeting the accommodation needs of Travellers and Travelling Showpeople.

Policy SWDP 17 (Travellers and Travelling Showpeople) and Related South Worcestershire Development Plan Policies

Policy SWDP 17 in the South Worcestershire Development Plan sets out the future pitch requirements for Travellers and plot requirements for Travelling Showpeople based on the Worcestershire Gypsy and Traveller Accommodations Assessment (GTAA) - see section on Evidence Base below.

Policy SWDP17 also sets out the following criteria to guide land supply allocations and provide a basis for decisions when planning applications come forward:

i. Whether the site is within, or on the edge of, a town or Category 1, 2 or 31settl ement. ii. Whether the site is within an international or national2 planning designation. iii. Whether the site is outside Flood Zone 1 or vulnerable to surface water flooding. iv. Whether the site has any significant impact on local plan designations such as Conservation Areas and Significant Gaps, or on sites of ecological or biodiversity interests that cannot be mitigated. v. Whether any significant visual impact on the landscape can be mitigated. vi. Whether there is any significant impact on privacy and residential amenity for both site residents and neighbouring properties. vii. Whether the size of the site and the number of pitches is of an appropriate scale for the location. viii. Whether the site has safe and convenient access to the highway network.

1 Definition of Category 1, 2 and 3 settlement – see Glossary

2 Examples of international designations include Special Protection Areas, Special Areas of Conservation and Ramsar sites. Examples of national designations include Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Green Belts, Sites of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserves.

6 ix. Whether the site is capable of providing adequate on-site services for water supply, mains electricity, waste disposal and foul and surface water drainage. x. Whether the site has reasonable access to health services, schools and employment. xi. Whether the site complies with good practice on designing Gypsy and Traveller sites.

Policy SWDP 45 proposes up to 20 pitches through the identification of two sites (up to 10 pitches each) on the proposed Worcester South and Worcester West urban extensions – policies SWDP 45/1 and 45/2 respectively. The precise location of the Traveller sites will be identified through detailed masterplanning of the urban extensions. At the masterplanning stage, it will also be determined whether the sites on the urban extensions will be to meet Malvern Hills, Worcester or Wychavon’s pitch requirements.

SWDP 17 says that the South Worcestershire Councils will identify additional sites in the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

7 Existing Provision of Traveller Pitches and Showpeople Plots in South Worcestershire

In south Worcestershire, as at February 2014, there were 97 pitches on local authority owned sites, 124 pitches on private permanent authorised sites, 8 pitches on private temporary authorised sites, and 12 pitches on unauthorised sites, 6 of which were tolerated. This is summarised in Table 1.

Traveller Pitches in South Worcestershire (as at February 2014)

Malvern Hills Worcester Wychavon Total

Local Authority Site 5 20 72 97 Housing Association Site 0 0 0 0 Private Site – Authorised 14 0 110 124 Private Site – Temporary Authorised 2 0 6 8 Unauthorised 0 0 6 6 Unauthorised - tolerated 1 0 5 6 TOTAL 22 20 199 241

In terms of yard provision for Travelling Showpeople, there were 17 plots on a private authorised yard in Malvern Hills. Why Do We Need A Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document? The South Worcestershire Councils are required to identify and update annually, a supply of deliverable Traveller pitches sufficient to provide five years’ worth of sites against locally set targets. It is important to be able to demonstrate a 5 year supply of sites and prepare and adopt a Development Plan Document as this is the best way to evidence a suitable supply of sites and thus reduce the risk of less appropriate sites being approved, or granted temporary consent. Further, the failure to allocate sufficient land to meet the need for new pitches could have a number of impacts including:  Continuing the problem of unauthorised development and encampments, as well as tensions with the settled community,  Restricting the Council’s ability to enforce against unauthorised development as our ability to enforce is related to efforts to meet the need for new provision, and  Increasing the difficulty of ensuring that the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople community has access to all the support and services they need. The Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document will therefore seek to address these issues by identifying deliverable sites to meet the accommodation needs of Travellers and Travelling Showpeople in south Worcestershire in the 5 years from 2016/17 to 2020/21 and identify a supply of developable sites or broad locations for years 6 to 10. Doing nothing to address the issues is not an Option.

8 2. What We Have Done So Far

The Vision for the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document is that by 2030 south Worcestershire will be an area where:

Travellers and Travelling Showpeople have the same opportunities and responsibilities as the settled community to secure a decent home which allows them to pursue and preserve their traditional way of life and there is sufficient land and pitches available to meet the identified need for accommodation.

Sites are well located, sustainable and of high quality where residents enjoy living and where they and the site are well integrated with the wider local community.

Unauthorised developments and encampments have moved to authorised sites and there are harmonious relationships between the Traveller, Travelling Showpeople and settled community.

Both the Traveller, Travelling Showpeople community and the settled communities have security and certainty about their future and that of their local environment.

The overarching objective to deliver this Vision is to:

To increase the number of authorised pitches for Travellers and Travelling Showpeople in south Worcestershire in the most appropriate locations, to reduce the number of unauthorised developments and encampments and enable Travellers and Travelling Showpeople to access the services and facilities to meet their needs, whilst respecting the interests of the settled community.

This will involve further sub-objectives to:

 Identify sites that are available, suitable and achievable;

 Allocate and grant planning permission for sufficient land and pitches to meet identified needs within south Worcestershire, in the most appropriate locations;

 Increase access to local services and facilities including health, education and employment by allocating sites and pitches in the most sustainable locations to enable this;

 Ensure sites are of high quality design, safe and pleasant places to live; and

 Provide clear guidance for making decisions on planning applications regarding Traveller and Travelling Showpeople sites.

9 The Evidence Base

In November 2014 the six Worcestershire districts published the Worcestershire Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) which identifies the future accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers and Travelling Showpeople across the county.

The GTAA involved interviews with 297 Traveller and Travelling Showpeople households living in south Worcestershire.

The GTAA assessment of pitch and plot requirements was calculated based on the results of the survey interviews and information on the current supply of pitches / plots.

As part of the process of testing the soundness of the South Worcestershire Development Plan, Examination Hearings on the Traveller & Travelling Showpeople policy (SWDP 17) were held in April 2015. The Hearings included a thorough examination of the GTAA. Following the Hearings, the Inspector recommended two changes to the GTAA methodology. Firstly, it was considered that households who had stated in the GTAA survey that they were planning to move to another pitch within that District in the next five years should be factored in to total need. Secondly, the Inspector recommended that a lower turnover rate be assumed for Malvern Hills in the next 5 years, based on evidence of turnover at the County Council managed site in Malvern Hills in recent years.

The GTAA, revised to reflect the South Worcestershire Development Plan Inspector’s interim findings, identified a need for 35 permanent Traveller pitches across south Worcestershire in the period to 2018/19 – see Table 2. The identified need is primarily in Wychavon where there was a requirement for 31 pitches. In Malvern Hills there was a need for 4 permanent pitches, whilst Worcester was considered to have sufficient capacity to cover identified needs up to 2018/19.

For Travelling Showpeople, the GTAA identified no overall additional need for plots across south Worcestershire in the period to 2018/19. The Development Plan Document is therefore not proposing to identify plots for Travelling Showpeople in the next five years.

The GTAA also recommended that provision be made for a minimum of 5 transit pitches to cover the period 2014/15 to 2018/19 and suggested that the South Worcestershire Councils cooperate with a view to providing a shared transit site.

There are currently 7 Council managed sites in south Worcestershire which provide 97 pitches. The GTAA indicated a desire amongst Travellers for a mixture of private and council / Registered Social Landlord managed sites.

Need for Permanent Traveller Pitches, Travelling Showpeople Plots and Transit Pitches - 2014/15 – 2018/19

Permanent Permanent Transit Pitches Traveller Pitches Travelling Showpeople Plots Malvern Hills 4 0 3 Worcester 0 0 0 Wychavon 31 0 2 Total 35 0 5 source: Worcestershire GTAA, November 2014 / SWDP Examination Hearings, Interim Findings, July 2015

The GTAA also identified the likely longer-term requirement for pitches and plots, covering the period 2019/20 to 2033/34. The longer-term requirements, based on expected household formation rates, are set out in Table 3. The longer-term requirements make no allowance for turnover on existing sites or whether Travellers intend to live a nomadic habit of life in the future. The longer-term requirements are therefore indicative and liable to change in light of future updated turnover rates.

Longer-Term Requirement for Permanent Traveller Pitches and Travelling Showpeople Plots - 2019/20 – 2033/34

2019/20 – 2023/24 2024/25 – 2028/29 2029/30 – 2033/34 Traveller Showman Traveller Showman Traveller Showman Pitches Plots Pitches Plots Pitches Plots Malvern Hills 6 2 6 2 8 4 Worcester 5 0 3 0 5 0 Wychavon 19 0 23 0 33 0 Total 30 2 32 2 46 4 source: Worcestershire Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Assessment, November 2014

The GTAA suggests a need for up to 30 Traveller pitches between 2019/20 and 2023/24, 32 pitches between 2024/25 to 2028/29, and 46 pitches between 2029/30 to 2033/34 – with most of the need arising in Wychavon.

For Travelling Showpeople, the GTAA indicates a need for an additional 2 plots in Malvern Hills between 2019/20 and 2023/24, and a further 6 plots in the period 2024/25 to 2033/34.

11 Development to Date

The South Worcestershire Councils will update annually the supply of deliverable sites, with a rolling five-year cumulative requirement for pitches, set against a rolling five-year delivery of pitches.

When planning permissions are granted for permanent pitches through the development management process, these will contribute towards meeting the required 5-year land supply.

In 2014/15 4 pitches were granted planning consent in Wychavon, thus reducing the 5-year requirement for south Worcestershire in the period 2014/15 to 2018/19 from 35 pitches (see Table 2) to 31 pitches. In the first ten months of 2015/16 a further 18 Traveller pitches were granted planning consent in Wychavon. Rolling forward the 5-year cumulative requirement for pitches for 2015/16 to 2019/20, set against a rolling five-year delivery of pitches, indicates a current need to identify sites sufficient to provide 19 pitches.

In addition, during the first ten months of 2015/16 temporary planning consent was granted in Wychavon for a further 10 residential Traveller pitches and 24 transit pitches. Due to the fact that these residential and transit pitches have temporary (for four years to 2019) rather than permanent consent, they do not count towards the council’s five-year supply of pitches.

If there are no further consents for Traveller pitches in 2015/16 then the rolling 5-year requirement for Traveller pitches in 2016/17 will increase by +6 in south Worcestershire to 25 pitches (17 in Wychavon, 6 in Malvern Hills and 2 in Worcester).

Question on Travelling Showpeople

Question 1 In view of the fact that there is currently no specific identified need for a Travelling Showpeople plots in the next five years, the South Worcestershire Council’s consider that there is not a need to allocate additional plots for Travelling Showpeople in the Site Allocations Development Plan Document. Do you agree?

If no, please give your reasons.

Question on Transit Sites

Question 2 In July 2015 temporary planning permission was granted for 24 transit pitches in south Worcestershire to 2019. The South Worcestershire Council’s consider that these pitches will meet the need for transit pitches identified in the GTAA and consider that there is not a need to allocate additional transit pitches in the Site Allocations Development Plan Document. Do you agree?

12 Call for Sites

In February / March 2015, the South Worcestershire Councils conducted a ‘call for sites’ which provided an opportunity for individuals, organisations and other stakeholders to submit sites that they considered might be suitable for Traveller or Travelling Showperson use. A Press Notice was also issued. Proposals were invited for either new sites or an expansion or intensification of existing sites. Proposals were also invited for permanent residential sites or transit sites / temporary stopping places.

17 sites were submitted during the call for sites including requests from the owners of some existing authorised sites to intensify (increase the number of pitches on the existing site) or extend their sites. The full list of sites submitted to the councils is available in a separate Site Allocations Background Report available on the South Worcestershire Development Plan website at http://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/?page_id=9752

It was made clear that any sites submitted in the call for sites exercise, together with those proposed for the urban extensions, would be assessed for their suitability against the criteria proposed in SWDP17 and other good practice guidance, and then subject to public consultation, in order to determine which may be identified for allocation in the Development Plan Document.

The South Worcestershire Councils also considered the potential suitability of Traveller sites with temporary planning permission which did not have a personal occupancy restriction.

The South Worcestershire Councils have not discounted the possibility of other sites coming forward during the preparation of this Development Plan Document or through planning applications.

Site Selection Process

The South Worcestershire Councils have used a staged approach to producing this Site Allocations Development Plan Document.

The first stage was to contact landowners who may have land that they wish to be considered for potential use by Travellers or Travelling Showpeople. These included owners of existing authorised sites, sites with temporary planning permission, tolerated sites, unauthorised developments, caravan parks, public sector land, and land submitted for consideration as potential housing allocations.

The second stage involved a desk-based assessment of the suitability criteria set out in Appendix 2, together with an initial investigation of likely availability. This stage sieved out immediately sites which failed on the grounds of either the site being unavailable for Traveller or Travelling Showpeople purposes or potential sites contravening major constraints such as being within planning designations, areas prone to flooding, on contaminated land etc. Sites where at least one essential criterion was not satisfied were rejected.

All of the remaining sites then went forward to stage three – a detailed site assessment. The on-site assessment helped determine whether:

 the land is relatively flat and stable,

13  the site has (or has potential of) safe and convenient access to the highway network,

 there is likely to be any significant adverse visual impact which can not be adequately mitigated

 there is likely to be a significant adverse impact on privacy and residential amenity for both site residents and neighbouring land uses that can not be mitigated

 the site is likely to be capable of providing adequate on-site services for water supply, mains electricity, waste disposal and foul and surface water drainage

At the detailed site assessment stage sites were also assessed for whether local services and facilities such as primary schools and health facilities would be accessible by walking, cycling and public transport. Whilst a failure to meet these criteria may not, in themselves, preclude the development of Traveller or Travelling Showpeople sites, they are important considerations which could assist in assessing the sustainability of sites and prioritising between a choice of potential sites. Sites were also assessed as to whether they would be an extension to an existing site or a new site and whether the site would be on previously developed or greenfield land.

The Site Assessment Criteria and detailed considerations are summarised in Appendix 2.

Sustainability Appraisal

The Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document is subject to a Sustainability Appraisal (SA) which will contribute to the evidence base and ensure that the Development Plan Document delivers sustainable development.

An Initial Sustainability Appraisal report has been prepared to set out the initial assessment of the strategic options and sites and can be viewed at http://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/?page_id=9752 alongside this consultation document. A full Sustainability Appraisal Report will be published alongside the Publication version of the Plan.

14 3. Proposed Site Allocations

Following the detailed assessment of the 17 sites submitted in the call for sites, the broad locations identified in policy SWDP 45 and temporary Traveller sites without personal occupancy restrictions, 7 sites meet, or have the potential to meet, the essential site suitability criteria and are proposed as potentially deliverable sites.

The urban extensions also appear to meet the essential suitability criteria and are proposed as potentially developable sites.

A copy of the Site Assessment Background Report is available on the South Worcestershire Development Plan website at http://www.swdevelopmentplan.org/?page_id=9752

The 9 potentially suitable sites (7 deliverable and 2 developable) will be considered by the three South Worcestershire Councils in February 2016.

Meeting The Need For Deliverable Traveller Pitches To 2020/21

To meet the need for 25 deliverable permanent residential Traveller pitches in the period to 2020/21 the South Worcestershire Councils propose that new or additional pitches be allocated at the 7 sites listed in Table 4.

Table 4 – Proposed New or Additional Deliverable Pitches

Site Name and Location District New or Proposed Existing Site Number of Additional Permanent Pitches Hillbee Farm, Upton upon Severn Malvern Hills Existing 5 The Orchard, Knowle Hill, Badsey Wychavon Existing 7 8 Evergreen Bank, Main Rd, Cropthorne Wychavon Existing 3 Seven Acres, Main Road, Cropthorne Wychavon Existing 3 Blossom Hill, Village St, Aldington Wychavon Existing 2 The Laurels, Kemerton Rd, Bredon Wychavon Existing 3 Shorthill Caravan Park, Crossway Green Wychavon New 10 Total 33

Comments on the suitability of the 7 proposed potentially deliverable sites are being sought as part of this Preferred Options consultation. Further information is provided on each of the sites in Appendix 3.

The South Worcestershire Councils will update annually the supply of deliverable sites, with a rolling five-year cumulative requirement for pitches, set against a rolling five-year delivery of pitches. When planning permissions are granted through the development management process, these will contribute towards meeting the required 5-year land supply.

15 Questions on Proposed Deliverable Traveller Pitches

Question 3 Do you have any comments on the suitability of increasing the number of pitches at the existing Traveller site at Hillbee Farm in Upton upon Severn?

Question 4 Do you have any comments on the suitability of increasing the number of pitches at the existing Traveller site at The Orchard, Knowle Hill in Badsey?

Question 5 Do you have any comments on the suitability of increasing the number of pitches at the existing Traveller site at 8 Evergreen Bank, Main Road in Cropthorne?

Question 6 Do you have any comments on the suitability of increasing the number of pitches at the existing Traveller site at Seven Acres, Main Road in Cropthorne?

Question 7 Do you have any comments on the suitability of increasing the number of pitches by extending the existing Traveller site at Blossom Hill, Village Street in Aldington?

Question 8 Do you have any comments on the suitability of increasing the number of pitches at the existing Traveller site at The Laurels in Bredon?

Question 9 Do you have any comments on the suitability of Shorthill Caravan Park in Crossway Green as a potential new permanent Traveller site?

Meeting The Need For Developable Pitches and Plots

The Government’s Planning Policy for Traveller Sites says that local planning authorities should identify a supply of specific, developable sites or broad locations for growth, for years’ six to ten.

The Worcestershire GTAA suggests a need for 30 Traveller pitches and 2 Travelling Showpeople plots in south Worcestershire between 2019/20 and 2023/24. These longer- term requirements made no allowance for turnover on existing pitches and plots and are therefore indicative and liable to change in the future.

The South Worcestershire Development Plan allocates up to 20 pitches on the urban extensions in policies SWDP 45/ and SWDP 45/2 as outlined in Table 5.

Proposed New Developable Sites

Site Name and Location New or Potential For Existing Number of Gypsy/Traveller, Site Additional Showman &/or Permanent Transit Use Pitches SWDP 45/1 - Broomhall Community and New Up to 10 Gypsy/Traveller Norton Barracks Community (Worcester South Urban Extension) SWDP 45/2 - Temple Laugherne New Up to 10 Gypsy/Traveller (Worcester West Urban Extension

Further information is provided on each of the proposed new deliverable sites in Appendix 3.

The South Worcestershire Councils will monitor the longer-term need for pitches and plots in light of future updated turnover rates and sites granted planning permission through the development management process which will count towards meeting the longer-term need.

Questions on the Proposed Developable Sites

Question 10 Do you agree with the South Worcestershire Council’s proposed approach towards meeting the longer-term need for pitches?

If no, please give reasons.

17 4. Other Planning Issues

Tenure of New Pitches and Plots

The Worcestershire GTAA indicated a desire amongst Travellers for a mixture of private and socially-rented sites.

Question on Tenure

Question 11 The South Worcestershire Councils consider that there may be opportunities to provide socially rented pitches as part of the provision of Traveller sites on the urban extensions. Do you agree?

If no, please provide reasons.

Nomadic Habit Of Life

The Government’s Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (August 2015) says that in determining whether persons are Gypsies and Travellers for the purposes of planning policy, consideration should be given to the following issues amongst other relevant matters:

a) whether they previously led a nomadic habit of life b) the reasons for ceasing their nomadic habit of life c) whether there is an intention of living a nomadic habit of life in the future, and if so, how soon and in what circumstances.

The Government has not provided guidance on how long someone would need to cease travelling, or in what circumstances, before they are no longer classed as a Traveller for the purposes of planning policy. Currently, there is also no Government guidance for councils on the criteria that they should use to assess whether Gypsies and Travellers live a nomadic lifestyle.

The Worcestershire GTAA indicated that only 28% of the Gypsy and Traveller families in the County had travelled in the previous year. 76% of the Travelling Showpeople households interviewed had travelled in the previous year.

Question on the Nomadic Habit of Life

Question 12 When determining planning applications the South Worcestershire Councils will have to assess whether persons are Gypsies and Travellers for the purposes of planning policy. Do you have any suggestions about how the South Worcestershire Council’s should assess whether Gypsies and Travellers are leading or have permanently ceased their nomadic habit of life?

If yes, please provide suggestions.

18 Rural Exceptions Sites

The Government’s Planning Policy for Traveller Sites says that local planning authorities should very strictly limit new Traveller site development in open countryside that is away from existing settlements or outside areas allocated in the development plan.

However, Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (paragraph 15) also says that if there is a lack of affordable land to meet local Traveller needs, local planning authorities in rural areas, where viable and practical, should consider allocating and releasing sites solely for affordable Traveller sites. This may include using a rural exception site policy for Traveller sites that should also be used in the determination of planning applications.

A rural exception site policy enables small sites to be used, specifically for affordable Traveller sites, in small rural communities, that would not normally be used for Traveller sites. Rural exception sites should only be used for affordable Traveller sites in perpetuity. A rural exception site policy would seek to address the needs of the local community by accommodating households who are either current residents or have an existing family or employment connection to the local area, whilst also ensuring that rural areas continue to develop as sustainable, mixed, inclusive communities.

In south Worcestershire virtually all of the Traveller sites coming through the Development Management process are for private family sites and are therefore not meeting the needs of those households who cannot afford private sites. The South Worcestershire Councils consider that there may be opportunities to provide socially rented pitches as part of the provision of Traveller sites on the urban extensions and these will help to meet the need for affordable pitches. It is not considered necessary to have a specific policy for rural exception Traveller sites because such applications can be judged against the criteria provided in policy SWDP17

Question on Rural Exceptions Sites

Question 13 The South Worcestershire Council’s do not consider that there is a need for a rural exception site policy for affordable Traveller sites in rural communities. Do you agree that there is not a need for a rural exception site policy for Traveller sites?

If yes, please give reasons.

Site Design Considerations

Once sites have been allocated and/or detailed applications for Traveller or Travelling Showpeople development are submitted, it is considered that applications would need to be assessed against more detailed considerations to ensure that sites are appropriately designed.

DCLG published a Good Practice Guide titled “Designing Gypsy and Traveller Sites” in 2008.The Good Practice Guide was cancelled in August 2015 when the Government

19 published its revised Planning Policy for Traveller Sites. This has left a gap in good practice guidance that the Development Plan Document needs to address.

To ensure that Traveller and Travelling Showpeope sites are appropriately designed the South Worcestershire Councils propose that new Traveller or Travelling Showpeople sites should incorporate the following design principles:

 Sites should provide a maximum of 10 pitches/plots to provide a comfortable environment for residents which is easy to manage.

 Access/turning space should be sufficient for emergency vehicles and comply with Fire Service requirements.

 The design/layout should clearly define individual pitches but without 'enclosing' them too much with inappropriate high, close-boarded fencing. Communal areas without clear usage should be avoided as they may attract vandalism, fly-tipping or unauthorised caravans.

 Appropriate landscaping proposals, to include where necessary, hard landscaping, fencing and boundary treatment to soften any visual impact and protect amenity but not enclose and separate the site so much that it hampers cohesion with the neighbouring settled community.

 It is essential that there is a mains water supply and mains electricity for each pitch, sufficient to meet the reasonable requirements of the residents.

 Wherever it is economic to do so, each pitch should be connected to a public sewer. Where this is not possible, provision must be made for discharge to a properly constructed sealed sceptic tank.

 Look for opportunities for Sustainable Drainage Systems.

 Accommodate travelling lifestyle by provision of room for at least one touring caravan per pitch.

 Schemes should make clear what commercial activity, if any, would be carried out on the site and where.

 Proposed amenity buildings or day rooms should be the minimum necessary to provide required facilities, be sensitively sited, and use sympathetic materials.

 Details of the keeping of animals to be submitted with applications.

 External lighting should be controlled and kept to a minimum

Questions on Site Design Considerations

Question 14 To ensure that Traveller and Travelling Showpeople sites are appropriately designed the South Worcestershire Councils propose that detailed policy considerations be included in the Site Allocations Development Plan

20 Document. Do you think that the proposed design policy considerations are the right ones?

Question 15 Are there any other design policy considerations that need to be identified?

If yes, please provide details of other policy considerations.

Safeguarding of Sites

To ensure that permitted levels of Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation are maintained the South Worcestershire Councils propose that existing sites and any proposed new sites (where there is no personal occupancy restriction) are safeguarded for Traveller and Travelling Showpeople use in perpetuity. This would ensure that the accommodation needs of the Traveller community continue to be met in the long term and that the development or redevelopment of land on safeguarded sites for uses other than for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation would not normally be permitted.

It is not considered appropriate to safeguard sites with permanent permission where a condition limits the occupation of the site to named individuals. The expectation with such sites is that if the named occupants no longer live there the use of the site would cease and the site would be restored in accordance with the relevant condition(s) attached to the planning permission.

Where sites are granted temporary permission with a personal occupancy restriction and the site ceases to be occupied by the named individuals the site should be restored in accordance with the relevant condition(s) attached to the planning permission.

Question on Safeguarding Sites

Question 16 Do you agree that existing sites and potential site allocations (where there is no personal occupancy restriction) should be safeguarded for Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation use in perpetuity?

Question 17 Are there any other comments you wish to make about Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Preferred Options Document?

21 5. Next Steps

The timetable for the preparation of the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document is outlined in each of the South Worcestershire Council’s Local Development Schemes (LDSs), published in September 2015.

The proposed timetable for the development of the Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document is summarised as follows:

Stage Timetable Commencement September 2014 Initial consultation March - April 2016 (Regulation 18) – 6 weeks Publication July 2016 (Regulation 19) Submission November 2016 (Regulation 22) Independent Examination December 2016 (Regulation 24) Precise dates of examination hearing sessions will be determined by the Inspector Receipt of Inspector’s Report June 2017 (Regulation 25) Adoption December 2017 (Regulation 26)

The next stage in the process will be for the South Worcestershire Councils to consider and assess responses to the Preferred Options consultation.

A Draft Development Plan Document will then be prepared, including the recommended final site allocations. The Draft Development Plan Document will be consulted on at the Publication stage in July 2016, prior to preparation of a Submission Draft which will be submitted to the Secretary of State in November 2016.

An Examination in Public will follow and the Inspector will then publish his/her report. Subject to the Plan being found sound it will then be adopted.

22 Appendix 1

Authorised Site: A site with planning permission for use as a Traveller or Travelling Showpeople site. These sites can be private or Council-owned. Most authorised sites in south Worcestershire are permanent, but they can sometimes be temporary (see ‘Temporary Sites’). Call for Sites: The way in which the councils give the public an opportunity to suggest sites for potential Traveller or Travelling Showpeople development. Respondents filled out a form with the details of the suggested site which was then considered by the councils. Caravans: Mobile living vehicles also called touring caravans. Section 29 (1) of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960 Act defines a caravan as ‘any structure designed or adapted for human habitation which is capable of being moved from one place to another (whether by being towed, or by being transported on a motor vehicle or trailer) and any motor vehicle so designed or adapted’. Category 1, 2 and 3 Settlements: The results of the Village Facilities and Rural Public Transport Survey enabled a hierarchy of settlements to be ranked according to their sustainability and access to local services. Category 1 settlements have at least four key services in the Village Facilities Survey. Category 2 settlements have at least two key services including a shop and have access to at least daily services for employment and shopping purposes. Category 3 settlements have at least one key service (other than a parish / village hall) and have access within the settlement to at least a daily bus service to a “designated town”. DCLG: Department for Communities and Local Government. Government department responsible for making the planning system work efficiently and effectively, including planning for Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople. Development Plan: A document setting out the local planning authority's policies and proposals for the development and use of land and buildings in the authority’s area. This includes adopted Local Plans and Neighbourhood Plans. The Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) will be one of the Local Plans that form part of the Development Plan for south Worcestershire. Green Infrastructure: Green Infrastructure and Green Space are the network of green spaces that intersperse and connect our cities, towns and villages, providing multiple benefits for environment, economy and communities. The components of Green Infrastructure and Green Space include biodiversity, landscape, historic environment, access and recreation and water. Gypsies and Travellers: Defined by DCLG Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (August 2015) as “persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily, but excluding members of an organised group of Travelling Showpeople or circus people travelling together as such”. When determining whether persons are “gypsies and travellers”, Planning Policy for Traveller Sites says that “consideration should be given to the following issues amongst other relevant matters - whether they previously led a nomadic habit of life, the reasons for ceasing their nomadic habit of life, and whether there is an intention of living a nomadic habit of life in the future, and if so, how soon and in what circumstances.” Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA): This was a study carried out for the six Worcestershire districts to assess the need for additional Gypsy, Traveller and

23 Travelling Showpeople accommodation in the County, including the South Worcestershire Council’s. The Worcestershire GTAA was published in November 2014. Mobile Home: Legally a caravan but not normally capable of being moved by towing. Also known as ‘trailers’, ‘static caravans’ or ‘chalets’. National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF): NPPF sets out the Government’s planning policies for England and how these are expected to be applied. Perpetuity: For all time, for eternity, for always. Pitch: Area of land on a Gypsy/Traveller site required to accommodate one household and their caravans, parking space and enough room for turning vehicles. There is no ‘one-size fits all’ measurement for a pitch; as with standard housing, this depends on the size of individual families and their particular needs. Plot: A piece of land of unspecified size which accommodates Travelling Showpeople’s caravans, trailers, mobile homes and sometimes equipment. This terminology differentiates between residential pitches for Gypsies and Travellers and mixed-use plots for Travelling Showpeople, which will need to incorporate space or be split to allow for the storage of equipment such as fairground rides. These areas used for storage are also called ‘yards’. Site: An area of land where Gypsy/Travellers live. These can be privately owned (often by particular families) or socially rented (where the site is owned by a council or registered social landlord). A site may consist of a single pitch, or may have a number of pitches and be home to several families/households. Stopping places: A term used to denote an unauthorised temporary camping area tolerated by local authorities, used by Gypsies and Travellers for short-term encampments, and sometimes with the provision of temporary toilet facilities, water supplies and refuse collection services. Temporary Site: This is an authorised site that has been granted temporary planning permission. At the end of the specified time period (usually between 2-4 years, defined by a planning condition) the use of the site must cease and the site should be restored to its former condition. Tolerated site: An unauthorised encampment/site where a local authority has decided not to take enforcement action to seek its removal. Transit site: A permanent site intended for short-term temporary use by Travellers on the move. The site is usually permanent and authorised, but there is a limit on the length of time residents can stay. Travelling Showpeople: Defined by DCLG Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (August 2015) as “Members of a group organised for the purposes of holding fairs, circuses or shows (whether or not travelling together as such). This includes such persons who on the grounds of their own or their family’s or dependants’ more localised pattern of trading, educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily, but excludes Gypsies and Travellers as defined above”. Turnover rate: Indicates the number of pitches available annually due to turnover of stock. Turnover enables existing stock to absorb current and future households considered in need. Unauthorised Encampment: Land where Gypsies or Travellers reside in vehicles or tents without permission. Unauthorised encampments can occur in a variety of locations (roadside, car parks, parks, fields, etc.) and constitute trespass. The 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act made it a criminal offence to camp on land without the owner’s consent. Unauthorised encampments fall into two main categories: those on land owned by local authorities and those on privately owned land. It is up to the land owner to take enforcement action in conjunction with the Police.

24 Unauthorised Development: Establishment of Gypsy and Traveller sites without planning permission, usually on land owned by those establishing the site. Unauthorised development may involve ground works for roadways and hard standings. People parking caravans on their own land without planning permission are not classed as Unauthorised Encampments in that they cannot trespass on their own land – they are therefore Unauthorised Developments and enforcement is always dealt with by Local Planning Authorities enforcing planning legislation.

25 Appendix 2

Site Assessment Criteria and Detailed Considerations

The following essential and desirable site criteria are based on:

 Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (DCLG, 2015)  Draft South Worcestershire Development Plan Policy SWDP17  Good Practice Guide: Designing Gypsy and Traveller Sites (DCLG, 2008, cancelled in August 2015), and  General preferences of the Travelling community, based on published reports and the Worcestershire Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) Essential Site Criteria

Availability  Whether the landowner is willing to sell or is interested in developing the site for Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople purposes Suitability Physical  Whether the site is within, or on the edge of, a town or Category Constraints 1, 2 or 3 settlement3 or within a proposed urban extension  Whether the site is outside Flood Zone 1 or vulnerable to surface water flooding  Whether the site is located on relatively flat and stable land  Whether the site is affected by contamination which cannot be mitigated  Whether the site has safe and convenient access to the public highway Environmental,  Whether the site is within an International (Special Protection Historic or Area, Special Area of Conservation or Ramsar) or National Landscape planning designation (Sites of Special Scientific Interest, Constraints National Nature Reserves, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Ancient Woodlands, Veteran Trees, Scheduled Monuments, Registered Historic Parks and Gardens, Listed Buildings)  Whether there are any local designations affecting the site (including Local Nature Reserves, Local Wildlife Sites, Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation, Local Geological Sites, Local Heritage Assets, Conservation Areas, Local Green Space, Tree Preservation Orders)  Whether the site is within the Green Belt4  Whether the site falls within a Significant Gap  Whether there are any known protected species or habitats recognised in the Biodiversity Action Plan on the site

3 Category 1, 2 and 3 Settlements - The results of the Village Facilities and Rural (Public) Transport Survey enabled a hierarchy of settlements to be ranked according to their sustainability and access to local services. Category 1 settlements have at least four key services in the Village Facilities Survey. Category 2 settlements have at least two key services including a shop and have access to at least daily services for employment and shopping purposes. Category 3 settlements have at least one key service (other than a parish / village hall) and have access within the settlement to at least a daily bus service to a “designated town”.

4 An exceptional limited alteration to the Green Belt boundary would be required for such a site to be considered (DCLG (2015) Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (DCLG, 2015))

26 Potential impacts  Whether there is any likely adverse visual impact which cannot be adequately minimised  Whether there is likely to be any adverse impact on privacy and residential amenity for both site residents and neighbouring land uses which cannot be mitigated  Whether the site (and possible number of caravans stationed) respects the scale of, and would not dominate, the nearest settled community  Whether there is likely to be any adverse impact from noise for both site residents and neighbouring land uses which cannot be mitigated Achievability  Whether the site is likely to be capable of providing adequate on-site services for water supply, mains electricity, waste disposal and foul and surface water drainage - or whether there are any likely abnormal costs which would prejudice the ability of the site from being developed

Proposed Desirable Sustainability Criteria

Suitability Sustainability  Whether the site is accessible by walking, cycling and public Criteria transport to local services and facilities including shops, schools and health facilities  Whether the site would be an extension to an existing serviced site  Whether the site would be on previously developed land  Whether the site would have an adverse impact on the Green Infrastructure and Green Space as identified in SWDP 5

27 Appendix 3

Proposed Site Allocations for Traveller and Travelling Showpeople

To meet the need for 25 deliverable permanent residential Traveller pitches in the period to 2020/21 the South Worcestershire Councils propose that new or additional pitches be allocated at 7 existing or new sites. The broad location of the proposed deliverable sites is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 also shows the broad location of the proposed developable sites on the urban extensions.

Location of Proposed Deliverable and Developable Sites

28 Proposed Deliverable Sites (Years 1 to 5)

29 Site at Hillbee Farm, Upton upon Severn

Potential Pitch Provision: 5 additional pitches

 The site has been identified by the landowner as being available for Traveller use.

 It is an existing authorised Traveller site with planning permission for 2 caravans.

 The site is located 450 metres from Tunnel Hill and comprises a paddock with a static mobile home and hard standing for a touring caravan. Adjacent uses include mainly farmland as well as 7 residential properties within 50 metres from the site.

 The site is relatively flat and not affected by flooding.

 There are no international or national planning designations affecting the site. The site would not have a significant impact on local designations that cannot be mitigated.

 The County Highway Authority have not ruled out the site but require further evidence that the site could have safe access to the highway

 The existing site is well screened and intensification of the site is unlikely to have a significant impact on the landscape.

 There are seven residential properties within 50 metres of the site but the impact on the residential amenity for the site residents or neighbouring properties is unlikely to be significant because of existing screening.

 The site has, and is capable of providing, on-site services for water supply, mains electricity, waste disposal and foul and surface water drainage.

 The site has good access to health services and schools in Upton upon Severn.

30 Site at The Orchard, Knowle Hill, Badsey

Potential Pitch Provision: 7 additional pitches

 This is an existing authorised Traveller site with planning permission for 3 mobile homes. The site is located 300 metres from Evesham . Adjacent uses include farmland and woodland as well as residential properties approximately 120 metres from the site, but on a slope overlooking the site.

 The site is considered to have safe access to the highway.

 The existing site is well screened to the west and along its eastern extremity there is a woodland which is on land that slopes up from the site. However, additional planting would be required along the other boundaries to reduce the impact on the landscape. There are approximately 8 residential properties within 200 metres of the site but the impact on the residential amenity for the site residents or neighbouring properties is unlikely to be significant because of existing screening. However, additional planting would be required to further reduce impact on residential amenity.

 It is not proposed that the whole of the site would be used to accommodate new pitches but to concentrate them on the western half of the site close to the existing pitches this would help to ensure that the size of the site and the number of pitches are of an appropriate scale for the location.

 The site has on-site services for water supply, mains electricity, waste disposal and foul and surface water drainage.

 The site is approximately 1800 metres from Bengeworth Primary School.

31 Site at 8 Evergreen Bank, Main Road, Cropthorne

Potential Pitch Provision: 3 additional pitches

 This is an existing authorised Traveller site with planning permission for 1 pitch but adjoins 3 other sites with another 7 existing pitches, including Seven Acres (see next page). If pitches are increased on both of these sites then the potential number of pitches overall would be increased to 14 pitches.

 The site is located 770 metres from Cropthorne and is approximately 80 metres from the nearest residential property.

 The County Highway Authority require further evidence that the site could have safe access to the highway.

 There are 2 residential properties within 200 metres of the site but the impact on the residential amenity for the site residents or neighbouring properties is unlikely to be significant because the site is surrounded by existing traveller pitches and a substantial hedge to the road.

 The site is within 400 metres of a bus stop and is approximately 1,300 metres of Cropthorne primary school .

32 Site at Seven Acres, Main Road, Cropthorne

 This is an existing authorised Traveller site with planning permission for 3 pitches but adjoins 3 other sites with another 5 existing pitches, including 8 Evergreen Bank (see previous page). If pitches are increased on both of these sites then the potential number of pitches overall would be increased to 14 pitches.

 The site is located 900 metres from Cropthorne and is approximately 180 metres from the nearest residential property.

 There is 1 residential property within 200 metres of the site but the impact on the residential amenity for the site residents or neighbouring properties is unlikely to be significant because the site is surrounded by existing traveller pitches and a substantial hedge to the road.

 The site is approximately 530 metres of a bus stop and is approximately 1500 metres of Cropthorne primary school.

33 Site at Blossom Hill, Village Street, Aldington

Potential Pitch Provision: 2 additional pitches

 This is a new site adjacent to two existing authorised Traveller sites with planning permission for 4 pitches in total.

 The site is located 150 metres from Aldington. Adjacent uses include farmland as well as residential properties approximately 130 metres from the site but the impact on the residential amenity for both the site residents and neighbouring properties is unlikely to be significant because of the existing screening that would be planted.

 The site is on a slope rising up from the road but is not on unstable land and is not affected by flooding.

 There are no international or national planning designations affecting the site. The site is within 100m of a Special Wildlife Site – Littleton and Badsey Brook and tributaries but the site would not have a significant impact on local designations that cannot be mitigated.

 The site is considered to have the potential for safe access to the highway.

 The existing site is well screened and the expansion of the site onto the adjoining land is unlikely to have a significant impact on the landscape.

 There are approximately. 14 residential properties within 200 metres of the site?

 The size of the site and the number of pitches is considered to be of an appropriate scale for the location.

 The neighbouring site has on-site services for water supply, mains electricity, waste disposal and foul and surface water drainage and therefore it is assumed that the expanded site is capable of providing the same.

 The site is within 100 metres of a bus stop and1330 metres of a primary school in Badsey.

34 Site at The Laurels, Kemerton Rd, Bredon –

 This is an existing authorised Traveller site with planning permission for 2 pitches.

 The site is located 50 metres from Bredon and comprises Adjacent uses include a nursery as well as residential properties 50 metres from the site.

 The County Highway Authority require further evidence that the site could have safe access to the highway. The existing site is relatively open but is set against a backdrop of nursery buildings and glasshouses and intensification of the site is unlikely to have a significant impact on the landscape.

 There are approximately 45 residential properties within 200 metres of the site, additional boundary planting would be required to minimise the impact on the residential amenity of neighbouring properties.

 The site has good access to health services and schools in town/village.

35 Site at Shorthill Caravan Park, Crossway Green

Potential Pitch Provision: 10 new pitches and 5 Transit pitches

 The site is subject to temporary planning permission granted on appeal for 10 residential pitches, 1 managers pitch (occupation of this pitch is not restricted to a traveller) and 24 transit pitches in July 2015. The temporary planning permission is due to expire in July 2019.

 The site is located 550 metres from Crossway Green. Adjacent uses include Travel Lodge and restaurant, caravan sales forecourt as well as a group of approximately 10 residential properties 2 of which are immediately adjacent to the site.

 The site is considered to have safe access to the highway although part of it is shared with the Travel Lodge and restaurant.

 The site is well screened to the A449 and the Inspector determining the appeal considered that the combination of the existing planting and additional fencing proposed would further isolate the site visually from the adjoining properties. Furthermore, the site would not be visually obtrusive in the wider landscape.

 The size of the site and the number of permanent pitches is considered to be of an appropriate scale for the location and is not considered to dominate the nearby homes. However, the appeal Inspector considered that if much of the 24 transit pitches and the 10 permanent pitches were occupied at the same time then the development could be regarded as having the potential to dominate the nearby group of houses. Therefore, it is suggested that the allocation be for 10 permanent pitches, 1 managers pitch (which does not count as a Travellers pitch) and 5 transit pitches for Travellers, the latter is the number identified in the GTAA for transit pitches.

 The site is capable of providing on-site services for water supply, mains electricity, waste disposal and foul and surface water drainage.

 The site is within 300metres of a bus stop and 500 metres of a shop.

36 Proposed Developable Sites (Years 6 to 10)

37 Site at Broomhall Community and Norton Barracks Community (Worcester South Urban Extension)

Potential Pitch Provision: up to 10 pitches

 The site has been identified by the landowner as being available for mixed use development.

 A Traveller site of up to 10 pitches within the Worcester South urban extension has been proposed in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (policy SWDP 45/1). The policy has been subject to public consultation and tested at the South Worcestershire Development Plan Examination Hearings.

 It is proposed that the Worcester South urban extension will accommodate approximately 2,600 dwellings and 20 hectares of employment land by 2030. Due to its size and scale, the urban extension offers opportunities for mixed use development, including the integration of a Traveller site up to 10 pitches. The precise location of the Traveller site will be identified through detailed masterplanning of the urban extension.

 The Worcester South urban extension offers a sustainable location and would be consistent with Planning Policy for Traveller Sites and the South Worcestershire Development Plan. The urban extension would provide a location where infrastructure and services exist and would ensure access to appropriate health services and schools. Being near to housing for the settled community as part of mainstream residential development, the urban extension would also offer scope to manage an integrated coexistence with the local community.

 Depending on the precise location of the Traveller site, it may be situated in a Significant Gap. However, the principle of development within the boundary of urban extension is accepted in the South Worcestershire Development Plan.

38 Site at Temple Laugherne (Worcester West Urban Extension

 A Traveller site of up to 10 pitches within the Worcester West urban extension has been proposed in the South Worcestershire Development Plan (policy SWDP 45/2). The policy has been subject to public consultation and tested at the South Worcestershire Development Plan Examination Hearings.

 It is proposed that the Worcester West urban extension will accommodate approximately 2,150 dwellings and 5 hectares of employment land by 2030. Due to its size and scale, the urban extension offers opportunities for mixed use development, including the integration of a Traveller site up to 10 pitches. The precise location of the Traveller site will be identified through detailed masterplanning of the urban extension.

 The Worcester West urban extension offers a sustainable location and would be consistent with Planning Policy for Traveller Sites and the South Worcestershire Development Plan. The urban extension would provide a location where infrastructure and services exist and would ensure access to appropriate health services and schools. Being near to housing for the settled community as part of mainstream residential development, the urban extension would also offer scope to manage an integrated coexistence with the local community.

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Coronavirus (COVID-19) business support: equality impact assessments

Detailed equality impact assessments (EQIAs) for the COVID-19 business support funding issued between March 2020 and April 2021.

Travelling Showpeople Fund

Name of Grant:

Policy lead.

Judith Young/Caroline Cantin

Legal power used:

Overarching legal powers to take emergency action due to COVID

Grant Overview:

The tourism sector is a key part of Scotland’s economy. In 2018 combined spending of £10.6 billion by day and overnight visitors generated around £12 billion of economic activity in the wider Scottish supply chain and supports around £7 billion to Scottish GDP (4% of total). Pre-pandemic, Tourism provided around 218,000 jobs and around 14,000 businesses covering all parts of Scotland [138] .

Tourism activity in 2019 continued to be a major driver of the national economy, recording record high levels of overnight visitors which in turn supported record high levels of tourism related employment and tourism business operators. Scottish tourism in 2019 was worth an estimated £11.6 billion to the Scottish economy which represented a notable annual increase of 9% [139] . The latest Scottish Government figures for the sustainable tourism sector shows tourism related employment in 2019 increased from 218,000 people to 229,000 (5% increase). The tourism business base increased to 15,215 businesses in 2020, the highest on record [140] . Overnight trips and bed-nights increased markedly in 2019 (by 11% and 12% respectively). Spending (in 2019 prices) also increased by 12% [141] .

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect on global health and the global economy. This has impacted employment and income levels in households throughout the world. Tourism is widely accepted as the global industry most affected by the crisis.

The tourism sector has experienced substantial and continued reductions in trade in the period since March 2020, compared with previous years.

Industry data from STR and VisitScotland indicate occupancy rates across Scotland in 2020 as being substantially below those seen in 2019 [142] . This has had an impact on the whole tourism sector.

The challenging situation in the tourism sector was closely related to the considerable reduction of international visitors. For instance, ONS data for Scotland for Q1 2020 showed that there was a 17% decrease in overseas tourism visits to Scotland compared to Q1 2019 [143] ; ONS data for Q2 2020 indicated that international visits to the UK were 96% lower than Q2 2019 [144] . Moreover, VisitBritain’s published forecasts suggest international inbound tourism to the UK in 2020 declined by 76% in terms of visits to 9.7 million and by 80% in terms of spending to £5.7 billion [145] .

In December 2020, the requirement to cease trading was based on the introduction of the stay at home requirements, including the requirement not to be away from your primary residence overnight, and to remain within a limited distance of that primary residence, other than for essential/exempted purposes. Tourism offers people the opportunity to move around the country, and creates opportunities for social interaction, which was wholly incompatible with the restrictions put in place to suppress the spread of the virus.

The gradual reopening of the tourism sector including visitor accommodation through summer 2020, starting with self-contained accommodation and then other types, did allow some economic activity within the broader sector. However the limits on household gathering that remained in force and other restrictions, throughout this period, meant that the tourism business model, which relies on socialization was especially hard hit, as this was fundamentally incompatible with these restrictions.

Following consultation with the tourism and hospitality stakeholders, SG decided to set up the Travelling Showpeople Fund to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on travelling show people, which were heavily impacted by the pandemic.

The £1.5 million fund was delivered by Corra Foundation, developed with input from the sector. The Travelling Showpeople Fund has been established to offer one-off grants of £10,000 to support travelling show people in Scotland whose work and income has been negatively affected by COVID 19.

The Fund was open to travelling show people who had a registered address in Scotland and who normally earned at least 50% of their annual income through their work attending established funfairs.

As part of the National Performance Framework, this fund contributed to this national outcome: economy.

Executive Summary:

The Scottish Government understands the impact COVID-19 has had on businesses, which is why £4.3 billion has been committed to business support. This includes the support package of £129 million to support a range of tourism and hospitality businesses from January 2021. This emergency funding has supported otherwise strong and viable businesses as well as jobs.

In order to address the needs of the tourism and hospitality sector adversely impacted by the pandemic, a range of tourism business support funds were introduced from January 2021 to provide emergency funding to help secure jobs, safeguard businesses and to alleviate hardship.

Within this context of emergency, there was limited opportunity to gather evidence on the possible impacts of these measures before their implementation. Nevertheless, this fund was set up following extensive consultation with the relevant tourism and hospitality stakeholders. More specifically, it is important to stress that there was extensive proactive engagement with this sector throughout the pandemic (and this continues) to try and address their concerns and issues, via the Scottish Tourism Alliance, who have coordinated input on behalf of the accommodation provider sector and key stakeholders. This engagement has been in place since the start of the pandemic and gives the Scottish Government a close understanding of the issues facing the sector.

The tourism and hospitality stakeholders represent businesses who have a large proportion of employees with one or more of the protected characteristics. Indeed, evidence tells us that the workforce in the tourism sector is comprised of people who are predominately, but not exclusively, from of people who have one or more of the protected characteristics below: women [146] , young people (16-24 years old) [147] , non- UK nationals [148] and people experiencing socio-economic disadvantage [149] .

Therefore in developing this EQIA the Scottish Government is mindful of the three needs of the Public Sector Equality Duty ( PSED ) - eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation, advance equality of opportunity between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not, and foster good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who do not. Where any negative impacts have been identified, we have sought to mitigate/eliminate these. We are also mindful that the equality duty is not just about negating or mitigating negative impacts, as we also have a positive duty to promote equality.

The Scottish Government worked in collaboration with its delivery partners, Corra Foundation, to establish a rigorous assessment process in order to assure the fairness of the process. More specifically:

• Due diligence checks were completed and all applications assessed before being reviewed and checked by Corra Management;
• If the applicant was not satisfied with the decision, they could seek feedback from Corra who would refer any appeal requests to Scottish Government.

Key Findings - impact assessment of benefits and/or disadvantages.

The tourism and hospitality team does not possess any data about the socio-economic profiles of travelling showpeople.

However, it is important to acknowledge the fact that travelling showpeople and Gypsies/Travellers are two different categories. The term “Gypsy/Travellers” refers to distinct groups – such as Roma, Romany Gypsies, Scottish and Irish Travellers – who consider the travelling lifestyle part of their ethnic identify [150] . The travelling showpeople are members of a group organised for the purposes of holding fairs, circuses or shows (whether or not travelling together as such) [151] .

The travelling show people can include Gypsies/Travellers, but the two terms cannot be used interchangeably [152] .

Age: Older People and Children and Young People

We know that a large proportion of the workforce in the tourism sector are young people: 36.2% of tourism sector workforce is aged 16-24 compared to 12.3% of the workforce as a whole [153] .

Consultation with tourism and hospitality stakeholders demonstrated the importance of bespoke support for the tourism sector during the pandemic due to the unique characteristics of the sector in order to mitigate the economic impact of this unprecedented crisis. Our main concern was to design funding schemes that would be inclusive for every business as long as they meet the funding scheme’s eligibility criteria.

The Travelling Showpeople Fund contributed to advance equality of opportunity for young people. Indeed, this fund contributed to maintain travelling showpeople’s financial viability. Since a large proportion of the workforce in the tourism sector are young people, this fund preserved jobs and contributed to advance equality of opportunity for this group of people.

Closing the age gap will require a cross-government approach and we have made a commitment as such in response to the pandemic. We established a package of support to help young people, including £60 million for the Young Person's Guarantee and £15 million to establish the Apprenticeship Employer Grant. The Scottish Budget includes an initial additional investment of £125 million for the Young Person’s Guarantee, the National Transition Training Fund and broader skills and employability support. The ambition of the Young Person’s Guarantee is that, within two years, every person aged between 16 and 24 will have the opportunity to study; take up an apprenticeship, job or work experience; or participate in formal volunteering.

Sex: Men and Women

We know that women are more likely than men to work in the tourism sector industry. Women constitute 52.2% of the workforce in tourism [154] . In addition, the minority ethnic employment gap is much higher for women (22.0 percentage points vs 9.5 for men, in 2019). The vast majority of part-time workers are women: in 2019, women aged 16+ accounted for three-quarters of part-time employment in Scotland [155] .

The Travelling Showpeople Fund contributed to advance equality of opportunity for women. Indeed, this fund contributed to maintain travelling showpeople’s financial viability. Since a large proportion of the workforce in the tourism sector are women, this fund preserved jobs for this group of people.

Closing the gender gap will require a cross-government approach and we have made a commitment of £50m for the Women’s Business Centre over the course of this Parliament.

The industry sector with the highest proportion of non- UK nationals in the workforce is distribution, hotels and restaurants – 16 per cent of its workforce are non- UK nationals (compared to 8.3% of the workforce as a whole) [156] .

Gypsy/Travellers were also most likely to be employed in hospitality/tourism at the time of the last Census in 2011 (31% of all those who were employed, compared to 21% for the employed population as a whole) [157] .

Moreover, previous economic recessions have disproportionately impacted minority ethnic employment, and this may be repeated, especially given that a higher share of the visible minority ethnic population in employment work in the tourism industry (31.7% vs 18.6% of the white population) [158] .

The Travelling Showpeople Fund contributed to advance equality of opportunity for non- UK nationals as well as visible minority ethnic population at large. Indeed, this fund contributed to maintain travelling showpeople’s financial viability.

Since a large proportion of the workforce in the tourism sector are non- UK nationals as well as visible minority ethnic population, this fund preserved jobs for these groups of people.

Closing the ethnicity gap will require a cross-government approach and we have made a commitment as such. Indeed, ethnicity pay gap reporting is an important step to identifying and addressing disparities faced by minority ethnic workers. That is why we are committed to publishing an ethnicity pay gap strategy to support our objective to improve labour market outcomes for minority ethnic people in Scotland. The strategy, due to be published in spring next year, will support employers to evidence how different minority ethnic groups are represented in an organisation, across different pay bands. This will also help employers to understand if there are unfair disparities and help drive strategies for the recruitment, retention and progression of minority ethnic groups.

The Scottish Government recognises that disabled people have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic and lockdown, and we are engaging extensively with Disabled People’s Organisations ( DPO s) to understand and tackle the complex reasons for this.

We do not possess data on disabled people for the tourism and hospitality sector specifically. That said,

• In 2019, the employment rate for those classed as disabled under the Equality Act 2010 was 49.0 per cent which was significantly lower than the employment rate for non-disabled people (81.6 per cent). In 2019, the disability employment gap was 32.6 percentage points.
• The disability employment gap was lower for women (27.5 percentage points) than men (38.2 percentage points) for ages 16 to 64 and across all other age bands. The disability employment gap was lower for young people and increased with age, with the gap being highest for those aged 50 to 64 years, for both women and men [159] .

We can suppose that we find the same proportion in the tourism sector. The Scottish Government worked in collaboration with its delivery partner, Corra Foundation, to put in place accessibility measures to ease applications for disabled people. For instance:

• There were multiple channels of communication. If applicants had accessibility issues they could contact Corra directly for support.
• The guidance and criteria was discussed and agreed with Scottish Government and stakeholders prior to going live.
• Corra had a dedicated person who would respond to email and telephone queries about any aspect of the application process and programme. Any queries that were not covered were discussed with Scottish Government.
• Corra Foundation provided documents in written format to try and ensure that it was accessible.

Closing the disability gap will require a cross-government approach and the Scottish Ministers established the Social Renewal Advisory Board in June 2020 to focus on tackling poverty and advancing equality as we began to emerge from the pandemic. The Social Renewal Advisory Board considered issues experienced by disabled people over this period, taking views from a wide range of individuals, groups and organisations. The report “If not now, when?” was published in January 2021. The concluding section of the report identifies a final Call to Action on how the actions in this report can be taken forward.

Religion and Belief

No evidence of a differential impact identified at this time for the tourism and hospitality sector.

Sexual Orientation

Pregnancy and maternity, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, socio-economic disadvantage: any people experiencing poverty.

We know that a large proportion of the workforce in tourism face a socio-economic disadvantage. Indeed, 36.8% were employed in ‘low skilled’ occupations in 2019, compared with 10.8% of the workforce in the Scottish economy overall. The majority of those aged 18+ in tourism (53.3%) earned less than the Real Living Wage in 2019, compared with 16.8% of all employees in Scotland [160] .

The Travelling Showpeople Fund was designed for businesses and not individuals. However, the Scottish Government was aware that individuals in this sector who are in lower paid jobs have been disproportionately affected by the effects of the pandemic.

The Travelling Showpeople Fund contributed to advance equality of opportunity for people who deal with a socio-economic disadvantage. Indeed, this fund contributed to maintain travelling showpeople’s financial viability. Since a large proportion of the workforce in the tourism sector are people who are employed in low-skilled jobs, or earn less than the Real Living Wage, this fund preserved jobs for this group of people.

Closing the socio-economic gap will require a cross-government approach and the Scottish Government’s ambition – shared by the Fair Work Convention – is for Scotland to be a leading Fair Work Nation by 2025. Later this year, we plan to consult on the action that will be needed to achieve this vision and how we will measure success. Fair Work sits at the heart of our ambition to move toward a wellbeing economy and is central to supporting economic recovery and renewal. While employment law remains reserved to the UK Government, we will use our Fair Work policy to promote fairer work practices across the labour market in Scotland, including tourism.

Stakeholder Engagement:

The Scottish Government has worked closely with industry at every stage of the pandemic to deliver where we can on its asks, including financial support. In the year to March 2021 the Scottish Government had nearly 300 engagements with tourism and hospitality stakeholders (the Scottish Tourism Alliance, the Showmen's Guild of Great Britain, etc.)

This engagement has been in place since the start of the pandemic and gives the Scottish Government a close understanding of the issues facing the sector, the opportunity to test ideas, share information about progress and discuss/address specific issues identified by the industry. The sector has been a key player on the Tourism Task Force, and via STA in STERG (the Scottish Tourism Emergency Management Group) as well.

Positive outcomes of this engagement include:

• The extensive support in place for the tourism sector. More specifically, in recognition of the single-household rule and indoor (private) socialising rules making trading conditions difficult for tourism businesses, and in collaboration with key stakeholders, a fund for travelling showpeople was put in place. The Scottish Government continues to engage regularly with this sector.

Mitigations

The Scottish Government decided to set up the Travelling Showpeople Fund to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 on travelling showpeople. However, the extension of Covid-19 restrictions might prevent the desired outcomes being achieved.

More specifically, the tourism sector has been severely impacted by the measures taken since the start of the pandemic to suppress the virus. The sector was almost in effect fully closed for approx. 8 months between March 2020 and April 2021 with travel restrictions and limits on numbers / households and social distancing affecting bookings and operations. A range of financial support measures were put in place to support the sector through this period. These measures were aimed at assisting the sector to survive, and did not replace income, with substantial losses seen through the sector.

A positive bounce was experienced by most of the sector following reopening in late April 2021, however this positive bounce is quite fragile considering the reintroduction of limiting measures, and ongoing changes to demand (for example almost no business travel, less demand in cities than rural locations, international travel restrictions still in place for several countries). As of today, the situation is still fragile and new measures can be reintroduced if the progression of the virus requires it. Risk of differential impacts on key equalities groups would have to be mitigated by additional business support funding if this happens in order to reduce the impact on people with a range of protected characteristics.

Next Steps (if any)

As part of the Tourism Recovery Programme, the industry is planning to establish the Scottish Tourism Observatory. The aim of this project is to create a resource for Scotland’s tourism industry which would make necessary, relevant and valuable data, analysis and insight easily available and usable by all, and would exploit data developments and innovations to expand our knowledge further. It will support Scotland’s tourism industry to successfully recover from COVID-19 and help to ensure its future resilience, by facilitating robust data and insight driven decision making. Thanks to this observatory, it would be possible to collect data on the socio-economic profile of travelling showpeople for instance in order to ease the decision making process for future funding schemes.

Declaration and Publication

I have read the Equality Impact Assessment and I am satisfied that it represents a fair and reasonable view of the expected equality impact of the measures implemented.

Signed : Colin Cook

Date: 8/11/21

Email: [email protected]

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