Gypsy and Traveller site
Responding to a comment by the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government that it is up to the local authority to make Gypsy and Traveller site provision according to its own discretion, Eleanor Laing asks why the Government is directing that Epping Forest provide disproportionately more sites than any other district in the region?
Mrs. Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest) (Con): In answer to my hon. Friend the Member for South-West Bedfordshire (Andrew Selous), the Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, the hon. Member for Tooting (Mr. Khan) said a few moments ago that in the matter of providing sites for Gypsies and Travellers, it is up to the local authority to make provision according to its own discretion. How can it be then, that the Under-Secretary himself—I have a letter to show this—has directed Epping Forest district council to provide an extra 39 sites for Travellers in our small area, on top of the 94 sites that we already have? That direction has come from the Government. Why are they being so unfair in requiring proportionately more from Epping Forest district than from any other district in the region?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Mr. Sadiq Khan): May I give the hon. Lady a short lecture on how the policy in this area works? It is for local authorities to assess need in their Gypsy and Traveller accommodation needs assessments. The results of those assessments are passed to the regional planning body, which uses them to make the pitch allocations for local authorities. Local authorities then draw up development plan documents to accommodate the pitch allocations. I would hope that politicians would not try to scaremonger local people into supporting them by using Gypsies and Travellers.
