I was greatly encouraged following my meeting with the Home Secretary that there is real awareness and eagerness to act on the long-standing concerns raised by the public around unauthorised encampments.
These can cause settled communities significant distress and perpetuate a negative image of the travelling community, the vast majority of whom are law-abiding citizens and amongst whom we see some of the worst life chances in our society.
Action is needed to address the sense of unease and intimidation residents feel when an unauthorised encampment occurs; the frustration at not being able to access amenities, public land and business premises; and the waste and cost that is left once the encampment has moved on.
Since 2015 the County Council has also operated a transit camp at Westhampnett near Chichester enabling police to use Section 62 notices obliging people to move from an unauthorised settlement to the transit camp and not return to the area for a fixed period. I recently met the Chief Constable and senior Sussex police officers to discuss why Section 62 notices were not being used more often when unauthorised encampments were causing significant inconvenience to the local community.
This week, the Government published a thorough response which details the steps that will be taken to act on this issue. Amongst these are extending police powers to tackle trespassers, additional support for local authority enforcement activities, considering a new criminal trespass offence, further reform to the planning system, and measures to further support law-abiding Gypsy, Roma and Travellers.
The full report can be found as an attachment below.
