Conservatives to take action on traveller sites
Local people will be given the final say on the location of traveller sites, under plans unveiled by the Conservative leader Michael Howard.
The proposal is part of a five-point action plan to tackle illegal traveller encampments launched by Mr Howard during a visit to Cornwall.
The Conservatives are opposed to arbitrary quotas or statutory obligations on councils to provide sites, and maintain that local people should have the final say on where sites go.
Earlier this month a committee of MPs recommended reverting to an old law, revoked by the Conservatives in 1994, under which councils had a duty to provide camps for travellers.
Under Mr Howard’s plan, Conservatives would put an end to irresponsible land speculation, whereby residents have been forced to purchase land from speculators at vastly inflated sums to avoid the threat of illegal encampments.
They would also ensure human rights legislation cannot be used to frustrate the law on unauthorised developments, provide local authorities with powers to remove unlawfully sited caravans, and encourage police to use their powers to deal with trespass and anti-social behaviour by travellers.
Mr Howard said: “People want action to tackle their everyday concerns like the problem of illegal traveller sites. Not because they are hostile to travellers or their way of life. But because they believe, like me, that everyone should play by the rules.”
The problems caused by traveller sites have been widely reported in recent weeks. In Taunton Dean, Somerset, a group of 60 travellers built a settlement on a five-acre field over one weekend.
In Eckington, Worcestershire, travellers have blocked eviction attempts through a series of appeals, which could take years to be heard. They claim their human rights would be breached if they were forced to move.
