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Gypsies and Travellers:
Simple ways to live together
EasyRead
What is in this booklet page
Who we are and what we do 1
What is this report about? 2
Why did we write this report? 4
What we found out 6
Authorised Why give authorised sites toGypsies and Travellers? 9
How are local councils getting on? 12
What we found 13
What is in this booklet page
How can we get over these problems? 15
What needs to be done? 17
What other organisations can do 20
What will the Commission do? 23
Getting involved in court cases 25
Cases we got involved in 27
Working well with Gypsies and Travellers 32
Contact us 38
1
Who we are and what we do
The Equality and Human RightsCommission is making life fairer and moreequal for everyone.
We work to make sure people:
l get their human rights
l get on better together
l
have a fair chance to take part insociety.
We make sure people follow the laws ontreating people equally and fairly.
We help everyone understand more aboutwhy people are being treated unfairly andwhat can be done to make things better.
2
What is this report about?
Gypsies and Travellers are part of today’sBritain.
Some local councils have found new waysof meeting the needs of Gypsies andTravellers.
Most Gypsies and Travellers want to keeptheir own way of life and use the health andeducation services they need.
They also want to live peacefully with localcommunities.
3
But some Gypsies and Travellers stillcause problems for local people in otherareas because they live on unauthorisedsites.
Authorisedû An unauthorised site is a place whereGypsies and Travellers live withoutpermission from the local council.
RaceRelations Act
The Race Relations Act and the HumanRights Act are laws that protect peoplefrom different races and ethnic groups fromdiscrimination.
The law says Gypsies and Travellers areethnic groups.
Discrimination is when someone treatsyou worse for many reasons. One of themis because of your ethnic group.
Of all the ethnic groups in Britain, Gypsiesand Travellers need health care and schoolthe most.
4
Why did we write this report?
The Commission for Racial Equalitywrote an important report called ‘CommonGround’ in 2006.
It said there were not enough authorisedsites for Gypsies and Travellers.
AuthorisedAuthorised sites are places where thecouncil has given permission for Gypsiesand Travellers to live there.
Planning permission must be given for aplace to be an authorised site.
Part of our job is to look at what has beendone for Gypsies and Travellers since 2006.
5
2011 The Government has told all local councilsin England to find more authorised sites forGypsies and Travellers by 2011.
We want to see if the Government canmeet its goal by 2011.
We want to find out if things have got betterfor Gypsies and Travellers in the last 3years.
We have done some work to find out howthings are going in England.
We are now finding out how things are inWales and Scotland.
6
What we found out
We got a report written for us called‘Inequalities experienced by Gypsy andTraveller communities: A review’.
This was written by:
l The University of Bristol
l Buckinghamshire New University
l the Friends, Families and Travellersgroup.
Report
It was a report about how Gypsies andTravellers were not being treated fairly orequally.
7
We found that many authorised sites do notmeet the needs of Gypsies and Travellers.
We also found that Gypsies and Travellersare not treated fairly or equally:
l at work or when they are looking forwork
l in health and social care
l in school
l by the police and courts.
8
They also suffer from:
l racism and discrimination
l violence in their families.
Gypsies and Travellers face discriminationwhen they try to take part in community life.
You can see the full report on our website:
www.tinyurl.com/ehrc-research
We did find good examples of localcouncils working well with Gypsies andTravellers. You will find these at the endof this report.
9
Why give authorised sites toGypsies and Travellers?
Everyone in Britain has the right to live in agood and safe home.
We think local councils can get a lot ofinformation about the needs of Gypsiesand Travellers from people who haveworked well with them.
We can deal with other problems by makingsure Gypsies and Travellers have enoughgood places to live.
AuthorisedMaking authorised sites for Gypsies andTravellers is the answer to what could turninto a big problem.
10
It is good for local councilsAuthorisedûForcing Gypsies and Travellers to leaveunauthorised sites costs the council andtaxpayers lots of money every year.
AuthorisedThey would not have to spend so muchmoney if they found more authorised sitesfor Gypsies and Travellers.
Authorised
If they found more authorised sites forGypsies and Travellers they would makemoney from things like rent and council tax.
11
It is good for the community
People in the community get angry andfrightened when Gypsies and Travellerslive on unauthorised sites.
Unauthorised sites are normally in placesthat are not safe or clean. They can causehealth problems and spoil the land.
We have found that well-run authorisedsites can become an important part of thelocal community.
12
How are local councils gettingon?
We got another report written for us called‘Assessing local housing authorities’progress in meeting the accommodationneeds of Gypsy and Traveller communitiesin England’.
It is about how well local councils are doingat finding good and safe sites for Gypsiesand Travellers.
This was written by the University ofSalford and the University of Birmingham.
We sent surveys to all local councils inEngland in October 2008.
Not everybody answered, but we gotenough information from the people whodid.
We also used other information we foundabout the housing needs of Gypsies andTravellers.
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What we foundAuthorised
There are more authorised sites now thanin 2006.
But local councils need to find a lot moreplaces for Gypsies and Travellers to livebefore 2011.
The East and South West of Englandcouncils need to find the most authorisedsites.
North East England and London have tofind the least.
14
Only a few local councils will have enoughplaces for Gypsies and Travellers by 2011.
But local councils are making better use ofthe planning system.
Local councils are using Governmentmoney to make new authorised sites andmake old ones better.
15
How can we get over theseproblems?
It will be hard for local councils to getsupport from communities and theGovernment to make new places forGypsies and Travellers.
But we think local councils can get overthese problems if everybody workstogether.
Political parties
Political parties need to take a strong leadto make this situation better.
Local councils
Gypsies and Travellers get on better withlocal communities when council memberstake charge of Gypsy and Traveller matters.
16
Newspapers and news reporters
The news often has bad stories aboutGypsies and Travellers on unauthorisedsites.
If Gypsies and Travellers have good andsafe places to live, there will be goodstories about them instead.
Working together with Gypsies andTravellers
Gypsy and Traveller groups often havedifferent needs.
Most local councils find it hard to includethem in their plans.
Local councils must train their staff andlearn from other councils who work wellwith Gypsies and Travellers.
17
What needs to be done?
Local councils need to:
l promise to find answers to long-term problems
l find enough authorised sites andmake sure they are run properly
l talk to everybody in the localcommunity, including Gypsies andTravellers.
They can also make things better by:
l making their work with Gypsies andTravellers part of the way they work
l looking at their own rules againabout places for Gypsies andTravellers to live
18
l helping council members get theright training
l helping Gypsies and Travellers findgood pieces of land and help themget permission to live there
l dealing with racism in planningpermission.
The Government can:
l make rules to check how authorisedsites are doing
l Plan
make sure that Gypsy and Travellerissues are part of the Government’splans for including people
19
l collect and use information aboutfinding good places for Gypsies andTravellers to live
l make sure that more money isgiven to cover what is missing fromthe 2011 goals to find moreauthorised sites
l think about asking the IndependentTask Force on Gypsies andTravellers to meet again. (This is aspecial team that looks at things todo with Gypsies and Travellers.)
l make sure their plans and rules donot stop new authorised sites beingmade
l make new plans to find good placesfor Gypsies and Travellers after2011.
20
What other organisations cando
The Audit Commission should make sureGypsy and Traveller issues are part of itschecks.
The Improvement and DevelopmentAgency for Local Government shouldstart its new training scheme for localcouncils.
Housing
PlansThe Homes and Communities Agencyshould make sure they include Gypsiesand Travellers in their housing plans.
The Planning Inspectorate should look athow quickly places get planning permissionwhere they are needed.
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The Royal Town Planning Instituteshould offer better information aboutholding public meetings.
The National Association of LocalCouncils should make sure parish, townand community councils know more aboutGypsies and Travellers.
The Department of Health should plan tocut down discrimination against Gypsiesand Travellers in health care.
It should also offer advice and training tohealth councils and doctors.
22
The Department for Children, Schoolsand Families and the Department forInnovation, Universities and Skillsshould take a look at Traveller EducationSupport Services and work with Gypsiesand Travellers to stop bullying.
The Association of Chief PoliceOfficers should find good ways ofworking with Gypsies and Travellers.
The Press Complaints Commissionshould look at their rules for groups tocomplain about news stories.
23
What will the Commission do?
We will:
l make Gypsy and Traveller issuespart of local governments’ work
l get all the big political parties to talkabout getting on with Gypsies andTravellers
l work with newspapers and newsreporters to make sure they knowmore about Gypsies and Travellers
l support good ways of working withGypsies and Travellers
l help local councils find more placesfor Gypsies and Travellers to live.
24
We think the examples of good ways ofworking in this report will help other localcouncils.
2010
We will take another look at how well thingsare going in 2010.
25
Getting involved in courtcases
The Commission has the power to getinvolved in court cases. This is called legalintervention.
We want to make it easier for local councilsto know how to deal with Gypsies andTravellers under the law.
RaceRelations Act
Our aim is to show how the Race Relationsand the Disability Discrimination Acts affectGypsies and Travellers when local councilsforce them to leave unauthorised sites.
We have tried to make it clear how planninginspectors can help local councils to obeythe law.
26
When they make decisions about planningpermission for Gypsy and Traveller sites,they must treat them fairly and equally.
We also want to help Gypsies andTravellers to know what their rights andduties are.
Things you must do
Duties are what the law says they must do.
27
Cases we got involved in
Case 1: Dale Farm
The Traveller community at Dale Farm inEssex took Basildon Council to Court inFebruary 2008.
The Council had decided to force thecommunity to leave the site.
There were 150 children and somedisabled people living there.
We got involved to tell the Court about howrace and disability discrimination laws workwhen councils decide to do this.
We helped the Court to see how councilscan make these decisions fairly and obeythe law at the same time.
28
The Court said the Council’s decision toforce the Dale Farm Traveller community toleave was against the law.
? This was because the Council had notthought about many things. Like makingsure people have a good home to live in.
But the Court said the council had treatedthem fairly and equally.
The Council was not happy with the resultand asked for the case to be heard againat the Court of Appeal. This is a higherCourt than the High Court. It can changethe High Court’s decisions.
The Council won their case in December2008.
29
The Dale Farm Traveller community gotlegal aid in March 2009.
They want to take their case to the Houseof Lords. This is a higher court than theCourt of Appeal and can change itsdecisions.
We are working closely with the Dale FarmTraveller community and the Council to findan answer that everyone is happy with.
We think the council needs to findsomewhere else for the Travellercommunity to live and tell everyone howthey will do this.
30
Case 2: Bromley
A Romany Gypsy and some Irish Travellerswere not given planning permission to builda caravan site in 2008.
They did not agree with this decision.
They said the planning permissioninspector did not treat them fairly andequally under the race equality law.
Race equality means to treat someonefairly and equally no matter what their raceis.
Race is someone’s colour or ethnic group.The law says Gypsies and Travellers areethnic groups.
31
RaceRelations Act We got involved to tell the Court about whatthe race equality law says local councilsmust do.
We told the Court that planning inspectorsand local councils should think about howthey obey the law when they look atplanning permission for Gypsy andTraveller sites.
RaceRelations Act
The Court said the inspector had obeyedthe law, and would not hear the case again.
But the Court said it was important forGypsies and Travellers to have the samechances as everybody else.
The Court also agreed that planninginspectors should think about the raceequality law when making decisions aboutplanning permission for Gypsy andTraveller sites.
32
Working well with Gypsiesand Travellers
Gypsies and Travellers have lived in Britainfor a long time.
This report has shown why it is good forlocal councils and the Government to geton well with Gypsies and Travellers.
Most Gypsies and Travellers just want thesame things as everybody else in life.
33
Here are some examples of good ways ofworking with Gypsies and Travellers:
Fenland District Council
Gypsies and Travellers have been in theFenland area for a long time. Fenland is inthe East of England.
5 Fenland District Council owns and runs 5authorised sites. It wants to get permissionfor another 108 places.
The council gets on well with Gypsies andTravellers.
The council helps Gypsies and Travellers toget permission to live on their own privatesites.
34
Bristol City Council
Bristol City Council did not have anyauthorised sites in 1996.
Every year, lots of local people complainedabout Gypsies and Travellers onunauthorised sites.
The council was spending lots of moneyevery year on dealing with the problems.
The council built 2 authorised sites andthings got much better.
35
Warwickshire
A Traveller family moved onto land theyhad bought near a town in Warwickshire in2008. But it was not an authorised site.
People in the town complained and localcouncillors tried to force them to leave.
The story got in the newspapers.
The local mayor visited the Traveller family.
He found that they just wanted health careand school for their children.
36
The mayor said they could stay if theybehaved themselves and respected peoplein the community.
People in the town were frightened. Theydid not agree with what the mayor had said.
The mayor asked the Traveller family tocome to a town meeting to answerquestions.
The family got permission to stay and geton well with the people in town.
37
Gloria Buckley, MBE, Romany Gypsy
Gloria Buckley runs 3 authorised sites inNorfolk and Suffolk.
She was the first Romany woman inEngland to get an MBE. An MBE is aspecial award from the Queen for doinggood work.
There were terrible problems between theGypsies and their neighbours when shestarted running the site in Norfolk.
But everything worked out, and the site gotan award for making community life better.
The Travellers and their neighbours arenow one community.
38
Contact us
You can find out more or get in touch withus on our website at:
www.equalityhumanrights.com
All our helplines are open from 9am to 5pm,Monday to Friday.
On Wednesday we stay open till 8pm.
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Different formats and languages
You can get this report in different formatsand languages.
Please call a helpline in your area.
You can get all our reports from our website.
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You can tell us what you think about this book and askus about how we can help you by using the Equality andHuman Rights Commission helpline. There are differentnumbers for England, Scotland and Wales.
England
Telephone:
0845 604 6610
Textphone:
0845 604 6620
Fax:
0845 604 6630
Scotland
Telephone:
0845 604 5510
Textphone:
0845 604 5520
Fax:
0845 604 5530
Wales
Telephone:
0845 604 8810
Textphone:
0845 604 8820
Fax:
0845 604 8830
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Credits
This report has been designed andproduced for the Equality and HumanRights Commission by the ‘EasyRead’service at Inspired Services Publishing Ltd.Ref ISL383/08. April 2009.
Artwork is from the Valuing People Clipartcollection and cannot be used anywhereelse without written permission fromInspired Services. To contact InspiredServices:
www.inspiredservices.org.uk
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© Equality and Human Rights CommissionPublished April 2009ISBN 978-1-84206-101-5
