New traveller site powers unveiled

The move is aimed at preventing another situation like the one in Dale Farm, Essex, where a long-running legal battle was fought
29 March 2013

Councils will be given stronger powers to stop illegal travellers' sites being set up, Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has announced.

Local authorities are currently constrained in taking immediate action against caravans used as a main residence which they suspect are in breach of planning rules, but Mr Pickles has said the regulations will be scrapped.

The move is aimed at preventing another Dale Farm, where a long-running legal battle was fought before bailiffs moved in to evict travellers from the site in Essex.

Mr Pickles said: "Drawn-out cases like Dale Farm threatened to bring the legal system into disrepute: I'm determined that we do all we can to avoid situations like that in future.

"In breach of planning law, travellers move in over a bank holiday weekend and it can take years for councils to remove them. Such episodes give the whole travelling community a bad name and fuel community tensions.

"But these new powers will stop those caravans in their tracks. By making these changes, we will stand squarely behind those who play by the rules and use the full force of the law against those who break them."

Under the changes, local authorities will be given greater freedom to issue "temporary stop notices", backed up by potentially unlimited fines, against travellers who attempt to breach planning rules.

The new powers for councils in England will come into force once the current legislation is revoked, which the Department for Communities and Local Government said would happen "at the earliest opportunity".

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in