Page 1 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Agenda I tem: Cabinet 10

Date of Meeting 6 November 2013

Cabinet Member Hilary Cox, Cabinet Member for Environment Local Members Deborah Croney, County Councillor for Hambledon Jill Haynes, County Councillor for Three Valleys Mark Tewkesbury, County Councillor for Broadwey David Mannings, County Councillor for Lodmoor Lead Director Miles Butler, Director for Environment

Subject of Report Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Executive Summary This report sets out the recommendations from the Environment Overview Committee on Gypsy and Traveller sites and seeks decisions on a further Planning Application for the Great Steam Fair transit site and a preferred location for an interim temporary transit site, as a transitional arrangement, until a permanent location is identified through the Development Plan process.

Impact Assessment Equalities Impact Assessment:

Gypsies and Irish Travellers, as ethnic minorities, are defined as protected groups and, as such, come under the terms of the Equality Act 2012. The law prohibits less favourable treatment of people with protected characteristics and requires local Councils to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different groups. It is the existing policy of Dorset County Council to provide additional pitches for Gypsies and Travellers in order to better manage unauthorised camping and improve the quality of life of Gypsy and Traveller families. The County Council’s policies on Gypsies and Traveller site provision have been subject to an Equality Impact Assessment. Page 2 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Use of Evidence:

Dorset’s Councils have recently commissioned Opinion Research Services (ORS) to carry out a Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Assessment for , Dorset and . In relation to transit sites it has concluded that, in addition to the Great Dorset Steam Fair temporary transit site, travelling patterns would suggest a twenty-five pitch transit site or stopping place for the south-east Dorset conurbation and a similar provision for the Dorchester/Weymouth area.

Budget:

There is base budget provision in the County Council’s Gypsy and Traveller budget for the Great Dorset Steam Fair temporary transit site. The organisers of the Great Dorset Steam Fair contribute 50% of the costs of operating the temporary transit site. No provision has been set aside for an interim temporary transit site which might operate for up to six months of the year. There may be some modest income from the sites. However, it would be prudent not to factor this into the finances of transit site provision as their purpose is primarily to better manage unauthorised encampments by triggering additional Police powers and providing the Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Service with alternative accommodation for unauthorised campers. Some travelling groups prefer to leave the County Council area as an alternative to being directed to authorised sites and ORS identified evidence from other parts of the country that the mere presence of transit sites can significantly reduce unauthorised camping even though the sites may not be occupied for a proportion of the year. The Cabinet are requested, therefore, to consider the costs of providing an interim temporary transit site as part of its overall budget strategy. There is a capital allocation for Gypsy and Traveller sites of £35,000 in the Environment Annual Provision Total.

Risk Assessment:

The County Council has developed considerable experience in managing temporary transit sites with the successful operation of the Great Dorset Steam Fair temporary transit site for many years and the management of a temporary transit site during the 2012 Olympic events at Piddlehinton. The primary purpose of providing a temporary transit site is to significantly reduce the risk of high profile unauthorised camping which, in turn, contributes to improved social cohesion between Gypsy and Traveller communities and the wider Dorset community. The operational risks are, therefore, considered low. Page 3 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Other Implications:

The County Council rents the location for the Great Dorset Steam Fair transit site from the same landowner that hosts the event. The two potential locations for the interim transit site are both owned by the County Council. The Weymouth park and ride site was funded by a grant aid for the Department for Transport for a particular purpose. However, the risk to the County Council of the Department for Transport seeking to challenge the decision of the County Council to use the overspill area as a temporary transit site is considered low. As with any community there can be corporate parenting or safeguarding of children and adults issues associated with Gypsy and Traveller communities. In the absence of alternative site provision the County Council is obliged to carry out a full Needs Assessment of the occupants of any unauthorised encampment before making a decision on whether and when to evict. Any application to the Courts for repossession of occupied land needs to be able to demonstrate that the County Council has properly balanced the needs of Gypsy and Traveller families with any potential detrimental impact, if any, to local resident communities. The provision of transit sites triggers Police powers under Section 62A of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which enables unauthorised campers to be moved without recourse to the Courts provided that there is a suitable pitch on a suitable site provided by a Local Authority or registered social landlord. One of the most significant community safety issues associated with Gypsy and Traveller sites is the fear of crime by neighbouring residents and businesses. Dorset Police have confirmed that there is no evidence of any increase in crime associated with the temporary transit sites that have been operated by the County Council in Dorset.

Recommendation That the Cabinet:-

1. Approves the submission of a Planning Application for the Great Dorset Steam Fair transit site for a further period of five years from the 2015 event. 2. Identifies Piddlehinton or the Weymouth Park and Ride overspill area as its preferred location for an interim temporary transit site and a Planning Application be submitted. 3. Agrees that discussions be held with other Dorset Councils and Dorset Police on partnership working to fund and operate the site and discussions be held with Dorset’s two Unitary Councils to identify a further potential temporary location in the south- east Dorset conurbation.

Reason for This recommendation links to Aim 1 of the County Council’s Recommendation Corporate Plan to help build strong communities for all and, in particular, to work constructively with Gypsies and Travellers to manage authorised and unauthorised encampments and provide additional authorised sites. Page 4 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Appendices None

Background Papers The Dorset Equality Scheme 2012-15 and the Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Assessment, September 2013

Report Originator and Name: Dave Ayre Contact Tel: 01305 224257 Email: [email protected] Page 5 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

1. Background

1.1 The County Council has for a number of years been working in partnership with Dorset Police and North Dorset District Council to provide a temporary transit site in the run-up to and during the Great Dorset Steam Fair. Several locations have been used over the years but a consensus has been developed between the County and District Councils, Parish Councils and Blandford Town Council, the Steam Fair organisers and the landowner who hosts the site on a preferred location for the transit site. This has temporary planning permission to cover the event for 2014 and 2015, respectively. The landowner and Steam Fair organisers have agreed to support a Planning Application for a further period of five years. The Environment Overview Committee on the 1 October also agreed to support this proposition and feedback from Town and Parish Council colleagues who attended the wash-up meeting for this year’s Great Dorset Steam Fair event on the 8 October was positive. This is being followed up with a formal request for feedback.

1.2 Over the years this operation has been extremely successful. It allowed Dorset Police to be one of the first Authorities to trigger the Section 62A powers and the partnership was shortlisted for a national Police Diversity Award several years’ ago. The site hosted up to sixty caravans at its peak this year, many more than the thirty- seven last year and several high profile unauthorised encampments were swiftly resolved. One encampment to note was a group of Irish Travellers who had initially camped at Poundbury in Dorchester, moved to Hardy’s School playing fields and were finally directed to the authorised site on the day it opened from Sherborne playing fields, choosing to leave the county rather than move to the transit site.

2. Interim Temporary Traveller Site

2.1 During 2012, in addition to the Steam Fair transit site, the County Council operated a temporary transit site during the Olympic related events from the period of the Torch Carrying Ceremony to the end of the Paralympics. The site was based in Piddlehinton on land owned by the County Council which is usually used as a pony paddock for residents of the permanent residential Gypsy site at Piddlehinton. The site enabled additional Police powers to be applied and it prevented any unauthorised encampments in Weymouth and Portland or along Olympic transport routes or its related infrastructure such as park and ride sites. At its peak the site accommodated over twenty caravans which would otherwise be on unauthorised encampments and other groups left the county rather than be directed to the authorised site.

2.2 The planning permission for the transit site at Piddlehinton was temporary for the period of the Olympics alone. The County Council has, however, received a request from Dorset Police by a local Weymouth and Portland Borough Council Member and several County Councillors for a transit site to be opened.

2.3 Unfortunately, in the absence of a transit site there have been a number of high profile unauthorised encampments in the county, including those mentioned above. There have been four unauthorised encampments on the Weymouth Park and Ride site, a high profile encampment at West Parley Recreation Ground and several more in Dorchester and Wareham.

2.4 At its meeting on the 1 October, the Environment Overview Committee considered this issue and received representations from County Councillors and Mr White from Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. The Committee debated two options, either to do nothing until permanent sites are identified through the Development Plan process or to agree, in principle, to open a further temporary transit site as a transitional arrangement until a permanent location is identified through the Development Plan Page 6 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

process. The Committee agreed to recommend to the Cabinet the latter option and invited the Cabinet to make a decision on the two options that were before them, a temporary transit site at Piddlehinton or on the Weymouth Park and Ride overspill area.

3. Site Options

3.1 The Government encourages Local Authorities to develop transitionary arrangements for the provision of accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers whilst Development Plans are being progressed. Members will be aware that Dorset’s Councils have jointly commissioned consultants, Peter Bretts Associates (PBA) to produce a Development Plan Document (DPD) for the allocation of sites for Gypsies and Travellers and Travelling Showpeople. The first round of consultation commenced in November 2011 and closed in February 2012. The County Council is a partner with the District, Borough and Unitary Councils in the preparation of the DPD and it has a long-standing policy incorporated in the Corporate Plan to identify locations for authorised sites for Gypsies and Travellers in order to better manage unauthorised camping and improve the quality of life for Gypsy and Traveller families. The statutory duty to address the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers lies solely with the local Councils but the County Council is a statutory consultee and has responded accordingly to the consultation.

3.2 A meeting of the Dorset and South Wiltshire Planning and Transportation Joint Liaison Committee was held on the 2 October where they noted the findings of the Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Assessment produced by ORS Consultants which sets out the evidence for permanent residential pitch numbers across Dorset and the need for up to two twenty-five pitch transit sites.

3.3 The Liaison Committee also received a proposed revised timetable for the preparation of the DPD, the key dates being as follows:-

• Consultation on further additional sites during the summer of 2014 • Public consultation on the pre-submission Development Plan Document during the winter of 2015/16 • Examination in Public, Summer 2016 • Publication of the Planning Inspector’s report and adoption of the DPD at the end of 2016

Members asked officers to review this timescale to see whether it could be shortened but agreed to commend progressing with the next stage of the DPD to constituent Councils.

In summary, therefore, the first indications as to which sites maybe included in the DPD will be at the pre-submission consultation stage in the winter of 2015/16 with the final plan likely to be adopted later in 2016. Any interim temporary transit site will, therefore, need to be operational until at least 2016 and possibly longer whilst any permanent transit site facilities are constructed.

3.4 Only two potential sites with a twenty-five pitch capacity were the subject of public consultation as part of the DPD process. These were the Uddens site, which is existing Forestry Commission woodland used for recreation and would cost at least £1.75m to develop. As reported to the Environment Overview Committee this funding has been withdrawn and the County Council has already given a commitment not to develop this site until such time that East Dorset District Council has identified its preferred sites through the DPD process. The remaining site Page 7 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

identified and included in the consultation document was the Weymouth Park and Ride site which could have a dual use as a temporary stopping place, the most likely location being the overspill section of the Park and Ride site. The existing Steam Fair transit site at is in the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs AONB and is unlikely to obtain planning permission for anything other than a facility to complement the Great Dorset Steam Fair. The only other location is that used during the Olympic events at Piddlehinton.

3.5 To be effective any temporary transit site would need to be operational for a period up to six months from around Easter to the opening of the Great Dorset Steam Fair transit site in August. This would leave the county without transit site provision from early September to the end of February but the level of unauthorised camping by Gypsies and Irish Travellers reduces during the winter months. The costing of the options included in this report is based on a six month period of operation. The two immediate options debated by Environment Overview Committee and for the Cabinet to consider are the Piddlehinton site and the Weymouth Park and Ride overspill site.

4. Option 1 – Piddlehinton

4.1 This option involves replicating the facility provided during the Olympic events in 2012 at the same location adjacent to Piddlehinton Enterprise Park. There is little infrastructure in place and this is reflected in the costs. The costs of security are the most significant item and two options have been included. The lower cost is based on an overnight security presence only from 8.00 pm to 8.00 am, which would also involve patrols around the Enterprise Park to reassure local businesses. The management of the site from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm would be by periodic visits by the Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Officer and her Assistant. The higher cost includes a full 24-hour security presence in addition to visits by the Gypsy and Traveller Liaison Team. If the site is not occupied for the full six months the cost of security may be reduced although there is likely to be the need to pay the security company a retainer to be on-call. The site occupants will be required to pay rent but as the periods of occupation or the numbers of occupants cannot be predicted an estimate of the income generated has not been included:

Piddlehinton Transit Site Costs £ £

One-off purchase of a 2000 litre water bowser and generator 3,600 Fuel for generator 1,500 Hire of temporary site office 1,200 Skip hire 1,800 Portable toilet hire 4,800 Security (8.00 pm to 8.00 am) 24,840 Site clear-up on closure 1,300

Total costs with overnight security only 39,040

Additional security (8.00 am to 8.00 pm) 24,840

Total cost, including 24 hour security 63,880

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4.2 Several issues in relation to the Piddlehinton site were drawn to the attention of the Environment Overview Committee by the Local Member:-

• It was suggested that the site, in its current form, would be unsuitable for winter usage as it would need proper access and hard-standing for the site to be available twelve months of the year. It is not proposed to use this site for twelve months of the year but to open it in the run-up to Easter and close it when the Steam Fair transit site re-opens in August. The site was operational during the exceptionally wet summer of 2012 and whilst the Great Dorset Steam Fair transit site (and the Steam Fair itself) encountered significant problems for residents to access and egress the sites in wet and muddy conditions the site at Piddlehinton continued to be operational. • The site is adjacent to Piddlehinton Enterprise Park and a number of businesses, particularly those who store equipment and materials outside on a regular basis would be looking for overnight security during the week and 24-hour security at weekends as a minimum. • The proposed transit site is near to the permanent Traveller site that the county manages at the other side of Piddlehinton Enterprise Park. This site is currently very stable and well managed but there can be tensions when other Travellers have been camped on the Enterprise Park in the past. There were, however, no problems encountered during 2012 and the Piddlehinton permanent residential site does have a resident Site Manager. • The access to the site is not an adopted road and suffers from frequent fly- tipping. The Local Member has, therefore, requested that the road from the highway to the site is adopted. An initial assessment has been carried out on the works required to bring this stretch of road up to a fully adopted standard and this would cost approximately £785,000. It should be noted, however, that during the site’s operation as a transit site in 2012 no fly-tipping took place due to the presence and regular patrols provided by the County Council’s security contractor.

4.3 In summary, therefore, a temporary transit site can be provided at Piddlehinton at a one-off cost of £3,600 and ongoing annual costs of £35.4K for overnight security only or £60.3K for 24-hour security. The estimated costs of providing overnight security only during weekdays and 24-hour security over weekends, as suggested by the Local Member, will be £46.1K.

5. Weymouth Park and Ride Overspill Car Park

5.1 This option involves the use of the Park and Ride overspill area as a temporary transit site. There are already toilet facilities and water available but additional lighting will be required in the overspill area. The site also has CCTV surveillance so the lower costings include the option not to engage security and for the site to be managed by the existing team making periodic visits. Security can still be engaged to provide reassurance to users of the Park and Ride and neighbouring properties and the additional costs of this are outlined below. The overspill car park would not be available for its primary purpose but if the site closed when the Steam Fair transit site opened the overspill car park would be available for the Weymouth Carnival. Once again, site occupants will be required to pay rent but this is not factored into the calculations:

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Weymouth Park and Ride Transit Site £ £

One-off purchase of generator 700 Generator fuel and additional costs of overnight lighting of park and ride 2,000 Skip hire 1,800 Additional cleans of toilet block 1,000 Site clear-up on closure 1,300

Total site cost excluding security 6,800

Temporary site office hire 1,200 Security 8.00 pm to 8.00 am 24,840

Total site cost with overnight security 32,840

Additional security (8.00 am to 8.00 pm) 24,840

Total cost, including 24 hour security 57,680

5.2 Local Members expressed some concern at the Environment Overview Committee at the possibility of the Weymouth Park and Ride overspill area being used as an interim temporary Traveller site and some key issues are as follows:-

• The Park and Ride is considered a gateway to tourists and visitors to Weymouth and Portland and concern was expressed that a transit site occupying the overspill area would deter visitors and regular commuters from using the park and ride facility. • At least four unauthorised encampments have already taken place during 2013 on the Park and Ride site and this caused heightened tensions between existing residents and the Travellers. This history of tension may, therefore, generate considerable opposition from nearby residents. • This could be compounded by reports, albeit not substantiated, of anti-social behaviour by the Gypsies and Travellers on unauthorised encampments and by local youths towards the Travellers. • The Weymouth Park and Ride overspill car park is adjacent to Weymouth Rugby Club’s playing fields and there maybe concern about uncontrolled dogs and waste on the site. It may, therefore, be appropriate for the hire of Heras fencing which would be an additional cost.

5.3 In summary, therefore, a temporary transit site can be provided at Weymouth Park and Ride overspill car park at a one-off cost of £700 and ongoing annual costs of £6.8K without security, £32.1K with overnight security or £57.7K with 24-hour security. The hire cost of Heras fencing for six months would be an additional £3,500.

6. Conclusions

6.1 The Cabinet are, therefore, requested to identify a preferred location for the interim temporary transit site and to include the necessary funding in the County Council’s budget strategy. Environment Overview Committee were also supportive of any initiative to engage Dorset Police, District, Borough and Unitary Authorities in the initiative and the need for a dialogue with the Unitary Councils on the possibility of a similar interim temporary transit site in the south-east Dorset conurbation. The other Page 10 – Gypsy and Traveller Sites

Authorities, including Dorset Police, may be prepared to assist with funding or with reassurance activity which may reduce the security costs incurred by the County Council.

Hilary Cox Miles Butler Cabinet Member for Environment Director for Environment

November 2013