My Lords, I apologise for not raising my eyes to the noble Baroness, Lady Brinton, initially. Her remarks are well worth paying attention to.
I am flattered by the attribution of influence by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier. I have taken a slightly different route, but his amendment is interesting. All the amendments in this group are aimed at resolving prejudice against and actual homelessness of the Gypsy and Traveller communities. They all deserve serious consideration. Amendment 57 in the name of my noble friend Lady Lister and the cosignatories of my amendment would deal with the underlying social situation of these fellow citizens, in particular the non-arrival of the strategy initiated quite some time ago by the noble Lord, Lord Bourne, when he was the very effective Minister responsible, and I think endorsed by the noble Baroness, Lady Williams.
I will speak to Amendment 55ZB in my name and supported by a distinguished cross-party group to whom I express my gratitude. I will move it to a vote if its thrust is not accepted by the Government. I am also grateful to the Minister for the meeting she gave several of us last week, when she said that the provision of the sites for Gypsies and Travellers was a planning matter and an amendment that dealt with that was not for this Bill. Indeed, it is a planning matter, as the police said in their evidence to the consultation on the Bill, but the trouble is that the lack of sites and consequent vulnerability of Gypsies and Travellers to summary eviction is inexplicably linked. Despite the noble Baroness’s assurance at our meeting that she would consult DLUHC on a way forward, I have heard nothing further.
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Although local authorities have a duty to assess the need for caravan sites in their assessment of housing need, it remains the case, as we said in Committee—endorsed now again by the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier—that local authorities simply do not do this throughout the country. Some do, but the resulting national provision is so far short of need that an unacceptable proportion of the small number of travelling nomadic families undergoes damaging disruption to their children’s education, hostility and traumatic upheaval as a frequent routine, as was comprehensively heard in Committee.
We do not think that this should be tolerated, hence our amendment protects travelling families from the nightmare of forceable eviction unless they have ignored a suitable site, with an additional provision of a short interval to arrange a negotiated stopping place. This is an excellent system, pioneered by Leeds local government and its Gypsy and Traveller community. It provides mains drainage and rubbish collection. It is very far from a licence to leave a mess, which some noble Lords appear to think is the norm, because there are conditions attached to staying on a negotiated site, as
the noble and learned Lord, Lord Garnier, said. They have to keep it tidy and quiet; they have to run an orderly site.
This amendment would give local authorities a much-needed incentive to set up orderly sites and thus avoid the substantial costs of eviction. My discussions with local government representatives indicate that local authorities would be receptive to enabling such a system. Their evidence to the Government’s consultation on the Bill makes it quite clear that the shortage of sites is a key issue, and a nationwide network of negotiated sites where needed would obviate the fear on the part of Gypsy families that they will have nowhere legal to put their home. It would also do much to counter the prejudice and bigotry they encounter.
I commend the noble Lord, Lord Greenhalgh, for his first step of encouragement of this system. Without it, we are at risk of allowing a barbaric, arguably illegal and cruel regime to deal with a gap in the planning system. It is time to get serious about site provision.