Equalities Impact Assessments
Housing
Travellers
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This report shows the process and the results of the impact assessment carried out on the provision and maintenance of an official Travellers' Site; and procedures for dealing with unauthorised encampments of Travellers.
Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised ethnic groups and have been identified as having a shared culture, language and beliefs.
An official travellers' site with 11 pitches is provided to meet this authority's duty to provide suitable accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers. The site is maintained and managed by the Customer Services Department. The future, and use, of the site has been the subject of much consultation with the travelling community and resulted in its complete refurbishment in 2004.
At this time the opportunity was taken to revise the site conditions, and produce a pitch allocation procedure. This assessment looked at the reasoning behind the continued provision of the site; the charging structure for licences; the licence conditions; pitch allocation; and the repairs procedure.
Local authorities used to have a legal duty to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers. In 1994 this obligation was removed following the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act and, as a result, and along with a change in the use of land and more land being identified for housing, there are now too few sites to accommodate all Gypsies and Travellers.
The responsibility for the unauthorised encampments arising rests with this service. This assessment looked at the manner in which unauthorised encampments were investigated, and any legal remedies actioned. It paid particular attention to the joint Protocol with the Metropolitan Police, and the Toleration Policy which includes common humanity checks designed to ensure that the travellers are aware of, and can be provided with, services from this authority, and other agencies.
The finding from this assessment is that that no adverse impact has been recognised.
Recommendations
Based upon the findings of this impact assessment it is recommend that no changes to the existing service are necessary, subject to continued monitoring.
