Labour is facing demands for a major clampdown on illegal Traveller sites scarring the countryside after the number of caravans parked in unauthorised camps rose by a fifth in a year.
Ministers have been accused of a ‘soft-touch approach’ after official statistics showed 4,464 mobile homes parked on land without planning permission this summer, the most since 2013.
Of those, the vast majority (3,880) were parked on land legally owned by Travellers themselves, an increase of 677, or 21 per cent on the previous year, leading to claims from politicians that they are gaming the planning system.
It comes amid a slew of high-profile cases where Travellers have purchased land, often in leafy parts of the Home Counties, before swooping to lay tarmac and create pitches.
They have then sought planning permission retrospectively, forcing local authorities to kick them off an area already built over, in a frequently lengthy and costly process.
One such case near Guildford in Surrey saw a field concreted under the cover of darkness close to a community of families living in £3m homes in November.
In another a site was set up in Berkshire close to the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) at Aldermaston.
MPs are pressuring the government to make changes, including giving police the power to remove people from land that lacks planning permission, even if they own it.
However, the response from ministers has been to explore collecting fewer statistics about illegal sites, under a consultation announced in November. Ministers have said it is up to local authorities to deal with issues under existing legislation.
Tory shadow communities secretary Sir James Cleverly told the Mail: ‘Unauthorised Traveller camps are becoming more and more common under Labour thanks to their soft-touch approach, causing serious issues for local communities.
‘The Government should be taking action, but things are so bad that Labour are instead trying to cover it up by stopping the publication of statistics on illegal sites and hiding the truth from the public because they can’t bear scrutiny.’
The data compiled the Minister of Housing, Communities and Local Government and released in December showed that Basildon in Essex and Havering in outer east London had the most caravans on unauthorised sites.
They were followed by leafy Waverley in Surrey and Bromley on the south east edge of London.
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In total the number of Traveller caravans in England hit 28,589, an increase of 1,152 (4 per cent) on the previous year.
It also means the number has increased by more than 240 per cent since the data was first recorded nearly 50 years ago in 1979.
The last time there were more caravans on unauthorised sites was 2013, and the rise has not gone unnoticed.
Mr Cleverly also raised the issue with Labour Communities Minister Matthew Pennycook.
But in a written response Mr Pennycook said it was up to local councils ‘to determine whether to enforce against unauthorised development and to keep records of their enforcement activities’.
MHCLG has also launched a consultation on making the biannual collection of Traveller site stats take place once a year.
It said the research was ‘resource intensive’ as councils have to send two officials ‘for safety’ and they often have to travel long distances between sites.
Last month 30 MPs led by Tory shadow energy secretary and Surrey MP Claire Coutinho wrote to the Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, drawing attention to what they said was a pattern of illegal developments.
They claimed as well as being lived in, some were also used to illicitly house ‘undocumented migrants’.
In the letter, organised by East Surrey MP Claire Coutinho, they said: ‘Across the country, communities are now being subjected to a wave of illegal developments.
‘Purchasers, often from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities, buy rural or greenfield plots.
‘Over a weekend or bank holiday they then carry out rapid works such as topsoil removal, laying hardcore, creating access points, pulling up hedgerows and installing fencing and sewage tanks.
‘The site is quickly occupied with caravans and large mobile homes. This is all done with complete disregard for the law.
‘Councils then face lengthy enforcement processes, as well as retrospective planning applications and appeals. This tactic can make immediate stop or enforcement action harder and ties up planning and legal resources for months or even years.
‘This cannot continue.’
One site where this has happened is Ockham, near Guildford in Surrey, where wealthy residents have been ‘living in a nightmare’ since the Travellers bought a 1.5 acre field from a local landowner at auction last month.
It sits within the green belt, is in a conservation area and close to a listed building.
But diggers and 50 lorries descending on the land late on a Sunday night, pulling down the hedges and foliage, and they worked through the night to lay a hard surface and move their caravans and trailers in scenes locals described it as ‘like D-Day’.
Millionaire residents have been ‘living in a nightmare’ since the group bought the 1.5 acre field
The travellers who illegally paved over a multi-million-pound field in Surrey’s stockbroker belt and moved in overnight have put forward a formal application to stay permanently
Now they have submitted a proposal which seeks part-retrospective planning permission to turn land off Alms Heath and School Lane into a permanent site with six pitches for families.
The scheme includes 12 new car parking spaces, hard-standing for caravans and touring vehicles, and boundary planting to screen the site.
A decision is expected at the end of January.
Guildford’s Lib Dem MP Zoe Franklin told the Mail she was in ‘regular contact with the local council about the site, adding: ‘Residents shared with me their concerns about noise nuisance, anti-social behaviour and the impact to the environment.
‘I know the situation continues to trouble them.’
In their planning application the applicants say there is a severe shortage of authorised Traveller pitches in the Guilford area and that no suitable alternative sites are available.
They also claim the field is ‘acceptably sustainable particularly in the context of a Traveller site, with these generally being set in open countryside with a separation distance from the settled community to avoid conflict with the settled community whilst still being able to access local services.’
It also warns that refusal could breach the human rights of the Travellers and that councils have a legal duty that ‘requires due regard to the needs of Gypsies and Travellers as a protected ethnic group in decision-making’, especially relating to children.
Near Aldermaston, a group of Travellers are building 13 static homes on an illegal site next to Britain’s biggest nuclear weapons factory.
‘Anxious’ locals say they have been left ‘fearing for their safety’ and are calling for the council to step in to stop construction on land opposite the AWE.
Hundreds of people have signed a petition after building work began on 13 static plots next to the sprawling campus, which is the largest of three locations where Britain manufactures its nuclear warheads.
West Berkshire Council issued a temporary ‘stop notice’ to developers when a planning application was submitted, but this was ignored and unauthorised work continued.
‘Anxious’ locals say they have been left ‘fearing for their safety’ and are calling for the council to step in to stop construction on land opposite the Atomic Weapons Establishment’s Aldermaston campus in Berkshire
West Berkshire Council issued a temporary stop notice but work has continued unauthorised since the beginning of November
Friends, Families and Travellers, a non-profit advocacy group, this year blamed a lack of official spaces for the problem.
Amid a row over an unauthorised site set up in Newchapel, Surrey, a spokesman told the BBC that ‘too many families remain stuck in limbo’.
‘Without somewhere safe to stop, families are denied access to vital services like sanitation, healthcare and education,’ they added.
‘Increasing access to safe stopping places, like sites, can give Gypsy and Traveller families the stability and dignity that every community deserves.’
