Key Issues

Rev Michael Hore, formerly of Cottenham, introduces some essential facts about Gypsies and Travellers together with some of the key issues which can arise.

1. Definitions and numbers

2. An Outline History

3. Culture

4. Recent History and Legal Matters

5. The concerns of the Settled Community

6. The Role of the Church

7. Facts and Statistics

1)          Definitions and numbers

i)             Travellers are defined in law as 'persons of nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin’. Within the Travelling community of the United Kingdom there are a number of identifiable groups. Most are Anglo-Roma Gypsies. There are smaller numbers of Irish Travellers (many of whom have migrated to England in recent generations), and Welsh and Scottish Travellers in their respective countries. There is also a smaller group of New Travellers who, through choice or circumstance, have adopted a Travelling lifestyle in recent years. ‘Traveller’ embraces all these groups.

ii)           It is difficult to be accurate about numbers. There are believed to be in excess of 120,000 Gypsies and Travellers living a traditional lifestyle on a Gypsy or Traveller site. Most of these will be ‘nomadic’ for part of the year. At least as many people of Gypsy and Traveller background have settled in houses. The East of England has the highest concentration of Gypsies and Travellers in the country – over 4,000 caravans, a quarter of all Gypsy and Traveller caravans in the country. This population is made up of Anglo-Roma Gypsies and Irish Travellers. There are no figures for the proportion of each group but nationally Irish Travellers make up some 15% of the total population. (It should be noted that most Irish Travellers were born in England and have British passports). There are no significant numbers of New, Scottish or Welsh Travellers in the East of England.

2)          An outline history

i)             Roma Gypsies originate in India and migrated to England via Egypt (hence their name) in the sixteenth century. They faced immediate persecution; in 1530 they were obliged by law to leave the country under pain of death. Many were indeed executed simply for being Gypsies. In modern times, several hundred thousand Gypsies died in the death camps of Nazi Germany. Gypsies have been tolerated when they are useful, for example for occasional farm work. However, they have a cultural history of persecution; they expect it from the settled community.

ii)           Irish Travellers are of uncertain origin. A romantic history claims they are linked to the ancient pre-Celtic people of the British Isles, but this is probably fanciful. More likely, they descend from Irish people driven off their lands at various times – during the subjugation of Ireland under Cromwell, and during the potato famines of the nineteenth century. They began to travel to England in the mid nineteenth century. Most (so called) Irish Travellers encountered in the East of England are now based in England.

iii)          In recent generations, with the reduction in seasonal farming work, most Travellers have changed from being country workers to urban workers, although because of problems with accommodation they often live in the countryside. Their work might include scrap metal dealing, tree surgery, tarmacing, selling imported furniture.

3)          Culture

i)             Travelling people choose to be a separated people. They want to be tolerated by the settled community, but not to integrate. Their culture has elements that are commendable: they have strong and structured family ties, are fiercely supportive within their group, and often have rigid morals. Some maintain a traditional artistic culture and language. However, many (particularly the older generation) cannot read or write. Their mortality rate is much higher than the settled community with a particularly high infant mortality rate. Traveller culture shows elements of disintegration similar to many settled communities; there is a growing problem with drink and drugs.

ii)           Traveller culture is changing (not least under the pressures imposed by an intolerance of Travellers’ lifestyle). There is a growing recognition amongst Gypsies and Travellers that their children should receive at least a basic education. There is also need to secure on-going health care for their older folk. These pressures have led many Gypsies and Travellers to adopt a more settled lifestyle, although with travelling still as an occasional option. Many have settled in houses, although they will often return to a travelling lifestyle.

iii)          Many Travellers are practicing Christians. Irish Travellers are Roman Catholic (usually of a rather conservative nature). Many Anglo-Roma Gypsies are born-again Christians, with their own pastors and church congregations. A few look to the Anglican Church for baptisms and funerals.

4)          Recent history and legal matters

i)             Legal Developments. Traditionally, Gypsies and Travellers were able to live a truly nomadic lifestyle. They could legally stay on common land and on certain roadside verges. In the second half of the twentieth century, the right to stay in such places was curtailed. Their traditional travelling culture was constrained by a series of new laws, including the following:

a)          The Caravan Sites Act of 1960 required private caravan sites to have planning permission. This was difficult to obtain.

b)          Recognising the difficulty caused by the 1960 act, new laws were introduced in 1968 that obliged Councils to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers. In practice, Councils provision was inadequate. This had the effect of driving many onto the roadside, and making resident Gypsy and Travellers reluctant to leave a Council site for fear of losing it.

c)          As a result of the shortage of legal sites, the number of illegal sites increased; also more Gypsies and Travellers were living on the roadside. As a response, a section of the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act gave greater powers to Local Authorities to remove those illegally parked. The act also increased the powers of the police to prosecute illegally parked Gypsies and Travellers. Furthermore, Local Authorities were relieved of their obligation to provide sites (and government grants for this purpose were ended).

d)          A government circular (Circular 1/94) aimed to clarify the 1994 act. Travellers were to be encouraged to buy their own sites. Local Authorities should identify areas suitable for Traveller sites where Travellers who bought land could expect to be granted planning permission. Many Councils have not complied with this circular.

e)          English case law and the European Convention on Human Rights has often recognised that Gypsies and Travellers should not be evicted from illegal sites if this is detrimental to their health and culture. Gypsies and Travellers have increasingly appealed to such law to avoid eviction. In addition, Anglo-Roma Gypsies and Irish Travellers are recognised as distinctive racial groups, and therefore find some protection under Racial Discrimination legislation.

f)            A government circular (Circular 01/2006) requires regional authorities, as part of surveys into housing needs, to identify the number of new pitches required to accommodate Gypsies and Travellers who at present have no authorised site on which to live. In January 2008 the East of England Regional Assembly agreed the number of new pitches that each Local Authority should provide. This is always greater in number than the Local Authorities want.

g)          Government directives make it clear that no Gypsies or Travellers should be expelled from unauthorised sites unless provision has been made for them elsewhere in the district (or there are compelling reasons to evict).

h)          Despite government restrictions on evictions unless alternative accommodation is offered, the Department for Communities and Local Government will often support local authorities wishing to evict Gypsies and Travellers (for example, it has approved Basildon’s plans to spend £1.9 million on evictions from unauthorised sites).

In practice it is not easy for a Local Authority to evict Gypsies and Travellers. For example, in February, residents of the Dale Farm site in Basildon appealed to the High Court against eviction notices. The judgement postponed the eviction until a proper assessment of the welfare needs of those facing eviction is carried out.

ii)           Planning Law. The main problem faced by Gypsies and Travellers today derives from the implementation of planning law. This law is formulated to regulate the gradual evolution of settled communities (where it works fairly well); it is an inappropriate tool for regulating Travelling communities.

a)          Of all planning applications, some 80% are granted without difficulty. However, a Gypsy or Traveller who buys land and then applies for planning permission to park his caravan there has a less than a 10% chance of success. After appeal, this success rate rises to about 34%. At the end of this process, and likely refusal of planning permission, the Gypsy or Traveller has paid for the land that is probably now unsaleable.

b)          It is estimated that over a quarter of Gypsies and Travellers have no secure place to stay, and are repeatedly camping on and being evicted from unauthorised sites.

c)          Many Gypsies and Travellers have adopted the practice of buying land and settling on it in numbers (for mutual support), and then following through the planning and appeals process, with no certainty of winning. This is expensive and stressful.

d)          There are still council-owned sites for Gypsies and Travellers. These are often squalid, inadequate in number, and sited in inconvenient places (distant from towns and often by major roads or railway lines).

e)          Where Gypsies and Travellers own their site they pay council tax whether or not they have planning permission.

5)          The concerns of the Settled Community

Settled communities often genuinely suffer from the proximity of a Gypsy or Traveller site.

i)             If the site is transient, it will often be in an inappropriate place (a park or a car park), and will be associated with dirt and rubbish. (In fact, Gypsy and Traveller culture has high standards of cleanliness and the better sites are immaculate. Councils will not provide skips at unauthorised sites for fear of giving the sites legitimacy).

ii)           Where a site is established on private land without planning permission, the settled community becomes resentful that the Travellers are circumventing the law. Members of the settled community often perceive that Travellers are seeking to circumvent the planning law that they themselves have to obey.

iii)          There is a fear that a small unauthorised site will grow in an uncontrollable way.

iv)         There can be considerable pressure on local services (schools, doctors etc.)

v)           Travelling communities (like any other) have their inconsiderate members. Further, Travelling communities are likely to feel little responsibility towards the wider community (particularly when their experience is one of rejection). This can lead to provocative anti-social behaviour with bad driving, arguments, and crime. Gossip can inflate the fear of such activity.

vi)         Settled communities have the right to have some control over the way their community develops, including some control over the rapid influx of new residents.

6)          The role of the Church

i)             Gypsies and Travellers are undoubtedly a persecuted minority within society. They form the largest minority ethnic group in many areas in the East of England.

ii)           Christians need to recognise the status and vulnerability of Travellers. In biblical terms, they are ‘our Samaritans’.

iii)          Christians should respect Gypsies and Travellers as people loved by God. This is not to be blind to the very real problems, but it does demand that Christians do not prejudge or stigmatise.

iv)         Christians should make contact with local Travellers. Once the fear (on both sides) is overcome, they will discover that, like any community, the Travellers contain many honest, honourable and likeable people. Gypsies and Travellers respond warmly when they realise that members of the settled community are prepared to respect them and listen to their problems.

v)           The Church needs to recognise that the friction between Settled and Travelling communities derives largely from laws that are grossly unfair to both sides. The current law (and the way it is implemented) needs to be challenged at every level. This is an issue of justice.

vi)         Christians need to listen to their local communities. Some members of the settled community are genuinely adversely affected by local Gypsy and Traveller sites (for example by reduction of house prices, noise, rubbish); others use the Gypsies and Travellers as a scapegoat for other problems. Where problems are real, Christians can help to address them. The Church should be seen to be working for justice for all members of the community.

Michael Hore

31st July 2008

ECUMENICAL SEMINAR ON GYPSIES AND TRAVELLERS

WHY SHOULD THE CHURCHES CARE?

Friday  26 March 2010  10am -4pm

Friends Meeting House, St John’s St, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP33 1SJ

A day for church leaders, members of congregations, those with pastoral responsibility or with an interest in Gypsies and Travellers

 jointly organised by the Diocese of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich & the Church Network for Gypsies and Travellers (CNGT)

Presentations on culture, the local context, and community safety. Speakers will include the County Council, Police, Gypsies and Travellers and those working alongside them. Theological input and examples provided of churches working together with Gypsies and Travellers. Part of the seminar will be to examine actions that local churches might undertake. Speakers list below.

Venue fully accessible for the disabled.  Close to the main car parks and within walking distance from the railway station and the bus station.

Cost £5 including lunch - PLACES LIMITED

For further details- please email Alice Nicholls at the Diocesan Office,  as soon as possible
alice@stedmundsbury.anglican.org or ring on 01473 298551. Bookings need to be received by March 16^th.

SPEAKERS 

Rev Nick Williams    Anglican curate of Dartford, Kent.  Met Police lead on Gypsy and Traveller issues, member of the Association of Chief Police Officers Gypsy and Traveller workgroup, member of the Ministerial Task Group on site provision and enforcement. CNGT Committee member

Richard Bennett   Formerly Chairman of the Local Government Association Gypsy and Traveller Task Group.

Keren Wright   Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Officer, Suffolk County Council

Laura Moore and Karen Nelson   Hate Crime Officers, Suffolk Hate Crime Service

Mark Jepson    Chief Inspector, Suffolk Constabulary

Gloria Buckley    Gypsy/Traveller from Suffolk

Shirley Barrett    One Voice for Travellers Ltd., Community group, charity working across East Anglia to reduce violence to and from the Gypsy and Traveller in a sustainable way

Sonny Gibbard    Gypsy/Traveller from London

Fr Joe Browne     Catholic priest, Chaplain to Travellers. Irish Chaplaincy in Britain, voluntary sector, faith based organisation. CNGT Committee member

Rev Roger Redding    Anglican priest, Chaplain to Gypsies, Travellers and Showmen in the South West and Chair of the Southwest Alliance of Nomads

Rev Martin Burrell     Anglican priest, Minister of Christchurch, Bushmead, Luton. CNGT Committee member

Professor Thomas Acton D. Phil. OBE    Professor of Romani Studies, University of Greenwich

Revd Peter Thomas     Baptist Minister, Brentwood Baptist Church. CNGT Committee member / webmaster

The Right Reverend Nigel Stock      Bishop of St Edmundsbury and Ipswich