Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan for North Area
- What is the Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document?
- Bedfordshire and Luton Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment (2006)
- Bedfordshire and Luton Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs Assessment (2007)
- East of England (EERA) Single Issue Review
Current Situation
In April 2010 the Council consulted on a set of preferred sites to accommodate the level of pitches set in the Regional Spatial Strategy (the East of England Plan) to 2016, for a six week period.
Following that consultation, the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government announced the revocation of Regional Spatial Strategies and the return of decision-making on housing and planning to local councils. With the abolition of regional targets local authorities are now advised to be responsible for determining the right level of Gypsy and Traveller pitch provision reflecting local need.
Without a Gypsy and Traveller DPD local authorities would find themselves in the unenviable position of having no robust planning framework with which to contest speculative planning applications or deal with illegal Gypsy and Traveller encampments, a similar position experienced during the 1990s. To avoid this situation Central Bedfordshire Council need to consider how best to move forward in light of the revocation of regional targets in planning for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation need.
The Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee are meeting on Tuesday 7 September 2010 at 10am in the Council Chamber, Priory House, Chicksands to discuss the matter.
Meeting agendas will be available to view here:
http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/modgov/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=648&Year=2010
This will be followed by the Executive Committee on 28 September 2010:
http://www.centralbedfordshire.gov.uk/modgov/ieListMeetings.aspx?CId=577&Year=2010
Preferred Sites Consultation April to June 2010
Following the former Mid Bedfordshire LDF Task Force on 12 February 2009 and former Mid Bedfordshire Executive on 18 March 2009, Officers were instructed to undertake a further site search for the Gypsy and Traveller DPD. Existing sites that had been considered through the DPD process to be reviewed together with a further site search.
The purpose of this new site search and review was to fulfil the increased requirement to accommodate Gypsy and Traveller pitches in accordance with Policy H3 of the East of England Plan to 2016. In the former Mid Bedfordshire area, this equated to 40 Gypsy and Traveller pitches, a transit site and a Travelling Showpeople site.
This matter had been discussed at the Central Bedfordshire Development Strategy Task Force on 7 and 14 December 2009.
On 4 Janury 2010, the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee considered the site list. Details of this meeting are available here.
On 23 February 2010, the Sustainable Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee recommended a final shortlist of sites.
This work culminated in the Council publishing the Preferred Sites consultation document on 26 April 2010. Please refer to this website and our Talk to Central Bedfordshire web pages for more information: Talk to Central Bedfordshire
The Preferred Sites document was published for a six week period of consultation from 26 April 2010 and closed on 7 June 2010. The consultation responses are currently being logged and summarised and can be viewed here.
The final document will be considered at the Council's Executive and Full Council before being published in its final form. A further 6 weeks will be given and any representations made in this period will be summarised and sent to the Planning Inspectorate for consideration.
Next Steps
Following publication of a Draft Submission document, on which residents will have a further opportunity to make comments, an Independent Planning Inspector will then assess the plan and the sites in a public examination.
Draft Submission Publication | October – November 2010 |
Submission to Secretary of State | February 2011 |
Public Examination | Spring 2011* |
Adoption of DPD | Autumn 2011 |
* Subject to the Planning Inspectorate’s timescales.
Other consultation documents available for download are:
(Second) Issues and Options Gypsy and Traveller Consultation Document (application/pdf; 964kB)
Published Guidance on responding to racists representations (application/pdf; 25kB)
Sustainability Appraisal of Second Issues and Options (application/pdf; 103kB)
First Issues and Options Gypsy and Traveller Document (application/pdf; 8051kB)First Issues and Options Gypsy and Traveller Document Addendum (application/pdf; 530kB)
Summary Sustainability Appraisal of First Issues and Options (application/pdf; 702kB)
Summary Sustainability Appraisal Appendices of First Issues and Options (application/pdf; 806kB)
Gypsy and Traveller Final Needs Assessment (Full Document) (application/pdf; 1007kB)Gypsy and Traveller Final Needs Assessment (Executive Summary) (application/pdf; 66kB)Travelling Showpeople Needs Assessment (Full Document) (application/pdf; 639kB)
What is the Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document?
The Mid Bedfordshire Local Development Framework is made up of a suite of documents. The Gypsy and Traveller Development Plan Document (DPD) is one of those documents. The role of this DPD is to identify the amount and location of Gypsy and Traveller accommodation required in the District. In addition, the document will include criteria based policies against which Gypsy and Traveller associated development will be determined.Bedfordshire and Luton Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment (2006)
Mid Bedfordshire District Council, with Bedford Borough Council, South Bedfordshire District Council and Luton Borough Council, commissioned a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment for Bedfordshire and Luton as the first step in preparing this DPD.
Local authorities are required by Government, through the Housing Act 2004, to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers alongside the assessment of the needs of the settled population, and develop a strategy that addresses any unmet needs identified through the needs assessment process. Local authorities are strongly guided by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) to undertake needs assessments on a sub-regional basis. This is to provide more reliable evidence and a better understanding of travelling patterns/reduced risk of double counting.
The needs assessment research identifies the nature of both accommodation and housing-related "support" needs within the Gypsy and Traveller community. A key component of the study is to provide a reliable assessment of the number of additional pitches that each of the four authorities needs to make provision for, through the planning system, over the next five years.
To download or view a pdf of the Full Report follow this link (application/pdf; 639kB).
To download or view a pdf of the Executive Summary follow this link (application/pdf; 66kB).
Bedfordshire and Luton Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs Assessment (2007)
The Council, working with Bedford Borough Council and South Bedfordshire District Council, commissioned an Accommodation Needs Assessment of the Travelling Showpeople community (application/pdf; 1535kB) (available to download in pdf format here).
This was undertaken separately to the Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment, as Travelling Showpeople do not share the same cultures and traditions as Gypsies and Travellers.
The report (recommends the need for an additional 4 new pitches for the Travelling Showpeople community residing in Mid Bedfordshire, to accommodate their need until 2012.
East of England (EERA) Single Issue Review
In February 2006 the Regional Planning Panel decided to proceed with a single issue review to the emerging East of England Plan to address the accommodation needs of the Gypsy and Traveller Communities in the East of England. The review is now complete. The review was required to:
- Address the pressing need for regional policy to assist with local authorities in the East of England in identifying the appropriate number and location of Gypsy and Traveller caravan sites through their Local Development Document
- Conform with ODPM Circular 01/2006 Planning for Gypsy and Traveller Caravan Sites, which states the RSS revisions should "identify the number of pitches required (but not their location) for each local planning authority in the light of local authority Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments (GTAAs) and a strategic view of needs across the region".
- Policy H3 provides pitch numbers for Central Bedfordshire.
To find out more about planning for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation, follow this link to the East of England Regional Assembly's website.