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GYPSY AND TRAVELLER ACCOMMODATION REPORT
MEETING MONDAY 27TH OCTOBER 2008
I attended the above meeting which was held at Oakwood House, Oakwood Park, Maidstone. The meeting was well attended by Borough and County Councillors, Parish Councillors and members of the public.
In brief, the Regional Assembly is carrying out a review of the Draft South East Plan to identify how many spaces should be provided for Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Show People across the Region.
The Assembly would be very pleased to hear our views on the Consultation Documents and provided a response form for completion and return by 21 November.
In a nutshell, in 2006 and 2007 the Government introduced new rules requiring all local authorities to allocate legal stopping places for the aforementioned groups. In addition, the South East England Regional Assembly (SEERA) is reviewing the relevant section of the South East Plan – a 20 year planning vision for the Region to:
From January 2006 to June 2008, a total of 3,169 caravans were counted in the South East. Of these 2,466 (78%) are authorised caravans on either local authority sites (1,256 caravans) or privately owned sites (1,210 caravans).
According to the count, approximately 700 caravans are encamped on unauthorised sites in the South East. The lack of authorised sites leads to unauthorised encampments, often in unsuitable places.
In summer 2008 Assembly Members agreed to consultation on four options on the spread of new pitches across the Region. By 2016 the current plan is to provide an additional 1,064 spaces for Gypsies and Travellers across the South East Region, of which 320 spaces have been allocated to Kent. West Sussex has the next highest number of 201, followed by Surrey with 163 spaces. Oxfordshire has the least number with 42 spaces. Additionally 274 spaces are required for Travelling Show People across the South East Region and in Kent 10 spaces have been allocated for this Group.
The four options considered most appropriate for allocating new spaces are:
(A) New spaces should all be provided within the Council areas where Gypsies and Travellers currently live (this may mean some Council areas have no spaces)
(B) New spaces should all be in the same general areas where Gypsies and Travellers currently live, thereby neighbouring Councils would share responsibility for providing new spaces
(C) Half the new spaces should be in the same general areas where Gypsies and Travellers currently live, the other being spread across the Region to make sure that all areas provide some spaces
(D) Most new spaces should be in the same general areas where Gypsies and Travellers currently live, a quarter spread across the Region to make sure all areas provide some spaces
What is our Parish Council’s response?
In view of the time the response form would take to complete at the Parish Council meeting on 3 November, I have made copies of the response forms which I invite you to complete and return same to me by 10 November in order to collate and give an informed response from this Parish Council.
Peter Coleman
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