Maidstone Borough Council

Freedom of Information Act Request

Ref: FOI/753

Date: 05/11/2019

Request and Response

Please provide the ward/parish breakdown of the G&T collection relating to the Traveller caravan count (previously known as the Gypsy and Traveller caravan count) as contained in the Official Statistics Traveller caravan count: January 2019. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/traveller-caravan-count- january-2019.

In particular I would like to see the data for the Wards in the southern boundaries specifically: a) Ward including Hawkenbury, b) , c) Boughton Malherbe/, d) and e) .

I am requesting the same data fields as contained in the UK Gov report above, broken down by the 5 wards above.

[Data fields] following data collected for Official Statistics Traveller caravan count: January 2019 above. A. Authorised sites (with planning permission) A.1 [Socially Rented Caravans] Private Caravans A.2 [Temporary Planning Permission] A.3 [Permanent Planning Permission] B. Unauthorised sites (without planning permission) No. of Caravans on Sites on Travellers' own land B.1 ["Tolerated"] B.2 ["Not tolerated"] No. of Caravans on Sites on land not owned by Travellers B.3 ["Tolerated"] B.4 ["Not tolerated"]

For data sets collected during the 6monthly periods: i) 2019 January ii) 2018 July iii) 2018 January iv) 2017 July v) 2017January vi) 2016 July vii) 2016 January

Please see Appendix 1. This report has been generated based on the information held by the Council. The information has been compiled into the same format as the Official Statistics Traveller Caravan Count published by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) using the best information we have.

The number of caravans reported is based on all caravans (mobiles and tourers combined). In compiling the information, it is noted that the number of temporary permissions on authorised sites alone exceed the figures published by the MHCLG. If you would like further information regarding the information published by the MHCLG please contact them directly.

Please note that the methodology required to categorise unauthorised caravans changed between January 2018 and July 2018.