Gypsies and Travellers in Leeds
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“GYPSIES AND TRAVELLERS IN LEEDS - Making a Difference” An Exploratory Study on the Health Needs of Gypsies and Travellers FINAL REPORT 23rd July 2001 Marianne Tavares with Travellers Health Partnership CONTENTS Page 1. Introduction 1 1.1 Aim and Objectives 3 2. Literature Review 2.1 Gypsies and Travellers 4 2.1.1 Gypsies and Travellers in Leeds 5 2.2 Lifestyle, customs and beliefs 5 2.3 Environment 9 2.4 Health 15 2.5 Education 26 3. Methodology 30 3.1 Research Setting 31 3.2 Identification of Research Participants 32 3.3 Data Collection 33 3.4 Method of Analysis 35 4. Results Introduction to Phase 1 36 4.1 From the Perspective of Travellers 37 4.2 From the Perspective of Professionals 61 Introduction to Phase 2 84 4.3 Response to First Draft 86 4.4 Interview with Department of Housing 89 4.5 Interview with Department of Planning and Environment 103 4.6 Interview with Equal Opportunities Unit 108 5. Discussion 110 5.1 Gypsies and Travellers – Culture and Change 111 5.2 Health 113 5.3 Main Factors reported to influence Health 114 5.4 Limitations and Shortcomings of the Study 121 6. Conclusion and Final Recommendations 123 Appendices A. The Story of an Eviction - from the perspective of the family 127 - from the perspective of Department of Legal Services, Leeds City Council 134 B. Statistics from the Citizens Advice Bureau 143 C. Statistics from Department of Planning and Environment 145 D. Recommendations from First Draft, Phase 1 146 E. Caravan Sites – Different Perspectives 148 F. Green Belt – “Very Special Circumstances” 152 References 153 1.0 INTRODUCTION TheTravellers Health Partnership (THP) was formed in December 1999 following the Annual General Meeting of South Leeds Health for All when a Traveller highlighted the gaps in statutory and voluntary service provision for Travellers. The THP consists of professionals working directly with Travellers (from Leeds Community and Mental Health Trust, Travellers Education Service, Citizens Advice Bureau, Park Lane College and Leeds City Council Travellers Services Team),Travellers, South Leeds Health for All, and latterly South Primary Care Group. The primary aim of the Travellers Health Partnership was to explore the health needs of Gypsies and Travellers who live in Leeds. However, the forum also provided an opportunity for networking and collaboration between professionals who work with Travellers, and was unique in that there was Traveller participation. ‘Gypsies and Travellers’ are an ethnic group, ie are identified as such even if they now live in houses or on permanent caravan sites. Gypsies and Travellers have lived in Leeds for about 500 years. They live in houses, on local authority caravan sites, by the roadside or on their own land. There are currently two adjacent caravan sites at Cottingley Springs, with a total of about forty plots, which provide a home to about forty Travelling families. There are no transit sites in Leeds. Problems due to the lack of official sites were exacerbated by the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which removed the local authority’s legal obligation to provide sites, and made trespass a criminal offence. Stopping by the roadside or on unused land therefore became very difficult, and planning legislation made it difficult for Gypsies and Travellers to obtain planning permission for living on their own land (Saunders et al 2000). In 1969 there were said to be over 200 Travelling families, many of whom now live in houses. The twice yearly count by the Department of Environment does not include Travellers who live in houses, so it is not possible to ascertain how many Gypsies and Travellers now live in Leeds, and the areas in which they live. The Citizens Advice 2 Bureau and Travellers Education Service provide a service to this community Leeds- wide. The health visiting service is limited to Travellers who live on Cottingley Springs Caravan Site or the roadside, and the Adult Education Service provides a very limited service. It is against this background that the research project was developed. A small grant was first obtained to hold a Travellers Fayre in March 2000. Apart from ‘fun’ events, such as face painting for children, jewellery making for young women, and a bric-a-brac, clothing and toys stall, interest and uptake athealth education and promotion stalls was significant. These included eyesight-testing, hearing tests, dental hygiene, chiropody, aromatherapy, and fitness. Following the success of the Travellers Fayre, and the successful application for a grant from the Joint Consultative Committee Special Grants Programme, and Health Action Zone, this research project commenced in May 2000. TheTravellers Health Partnershipformed the steering group for this study, which consisted of two parts, Phase 1 and 2. Phase 1consisted of interviews with Travellers and professionals who work (worked) with Travellers, and the reporting of the process of evicting a Travelling family from Cottingley Springs Caravan Site (see Appendix A). Phase 1 was completed in January 2001. During the process of the eviction, the Department of Housing had withdrawn from the THP and was unable, therefore, to contribute to directing the research process. Following the presentation of the draft report of Phase 1 to the stakeholding organisations, and the response of the Director, Department of Housing, the study entered Phase 2 in order to incorporate the response of senior officers of the Council and provide a balance in perspectives. 3 1.1 Aim and Objectives The aim of the research was “To explore the health needs of Gypsies and Travellers who live in Leeds”. The objectives were: • To identify factors reported to influence the health of Gypsies and Travellers who live in Leeds • To identify health needs • To identify gaps in service provision • To recommend changes which could facilitate health improvement 4 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW Much of the literature on the health of Gypsies and Travellers has already been reviewed and analysed by many professionals and academics. As described by Hawes (1997) the health of this minority community is “a patchy and ill-understood phenomenon whose complexity is matched by its marginality to the mainstream health structures”. 2.1GYPSIES AND TRAVELLERS Liegeois (1994) confirms that the original Gypsies came from the East. It was not until the late 18th century that linguistic science discovered that Gypsy language was an Indian language, derived from popular dialects close to Sanskrit. The migration of Gypsies from India took place between the 9th and 14th centuries, in a number of waves and the study of linguistics gives an idea of the routes taken over the course of these migrations. In the UK the first recorded appearance of Gypsies was over 500 years ago. In law, the term (traditional) Travellers refers to people who have a long generational history of a nomadic way of life, and whose sole place of residence is a caravan, bus, tent, or other form of moveable structure. The 1960 Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act, later amended by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, provides a legal definition for persons of nomadic habit of life that covers Gypsies and other groups of people who are nomadic by habit or choice, and who travel for the purpose of making a living, eg Irish Travellers. This definition also includes Gypsies and Travellers who now reside in houses due to circumstances including ill- health (Brown, Allen et al 1999), but does not include the newer Travellers, eg New Age Travellers. In the U.K. it was not until 1989 that Gypsies and (traditional) Travellers were recognised as an ethnic minority group in their own right under the terms of the Race Relations Act 1976. Modern literature on nomadic and itinerant people is largely concerned with Gypsies and (traditional) Travellers, rather than newer Travellers, and 5 in this literature review “Gypsies and Travellers” refer to the former legally recognised minority ethnic group. In 1984 a count by the Department of Environment in England showed over 9,600 trailers, with 7-8,000 families, which accounted for a population of about 30-50,000. In 1991 the count was 55 – 60,000 persons in England, Wales and Scotland living and travelling in caravans. When including those living in permanent accommodation of one kind or another, this brings the count to a minimum of 90,000 Gypsies and Travellers in the U.K. (Liegeois 1994). 2.1.1 Gypsies and Travellers in Leeds Saunders et al (2000) mention the long history of Gypsies and Travellers in Leeds. Thefirst written record of Gypsies and Travellers in Leeds is in the Parish Register of Leeds Parish Church in 1572, when “Elizabeth, childe of Anthony Sinawleye the Egyptian” was baptised. Today the legacy of Gypsy and Traveller encampments in Leeds dating back to the seventeenth century can be still found in street names, such as Gypsy Lane near Middleton Woods, Gypsy Wood Close in Colton and Blackman Lane off Woodhouse Lane. ‘Van towns’ also existed from the late nineteenth century up to the 1930’s. Brickfields at Armley, for example, had one hundred and fifty vans, tents and huts on the ground between Armley Town Street and Stanningley Road (Saunders et al, ed. 2000). Hunslet and Holbeck have a history of Gypsy and Traveller yards from the early nineteenth century, and Holbeck continues to this day to be home to a large number of Gypsies and Travellers living in houses. 2.2LIFESTYLE, CUSTOMS AND BELIEFS Although recognised as a minority ethnic group, Gypsies and Travellers have never constituted an homogenous group. According to Acton (1974) they are “a most disunited and ill-defined people” for whom as many as eighteen different names exist, including Romanies, tinkers, didecois and mumpers.