Moving for Change welcomes the announcement of the new government Fund for Traveller sites.
The £10 million fund announced yesterday, 20th March, by the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities is dedicated to making new permanent sites, improving existing ones, building new transit sites and providing temporary stopping places.
The move is welcomed by Moving for Change and its Policy Lead, Adrian Jones, who worked tirelessly with the government department for over a year to establish the new ring-fenced fund.
The Traveller Site Fund 2022/23 hopes to address the serious national shortage of places for nomadic Gypsies and Travellers to legally and safely stop. It exists on top of the £11.5 billion Affordable Homes Fund 2021-2026 which can be used for Traveller accommodation.
Councils in England can now apply to build new services for Gypsy and Traveller people including improving site infrastructure, creating public spaces such as community centres, play areas, and horses’ stables on sites.
Adrian Jones, Policy Lead at Moving for Change, said:
“It is only with the support of local authorities that futures for Gypsy, Traveller and nomadic people will start to improve. Under the Affordable Homes programme, only two councils made successful applications for transit sites.
“I very much hope with the new dedicated and ring-fenced fund, more local authorities will apply. The government says this will improve access to healthcare, education, and employment for Gypsy and Traveller people and reduce roadside camps.
“To do this, this Fund needs to be the start of the conversation on providing proper services for our communities, not the end. The government must ultimately re-introduce the duty on local authorities to provide sites and care for their communities, which currently does not exist.”
The announcement comes after the Police, Crime, Sentencing, and Courts Bill passed through the House of Lords in March. After Royal Assent the Bill will pass into law, bringing harsh new laws to criminalise the historically nomadic lives of thousands of minority ethnic Gypsy and Traveller people across England.
Moving for Change Chair, Violet Cannon, said:
“Moving for Change is delighted to see the government is doing something to avoid a mass prosecution of the entire Gypsy and Traveller people, however, it is continuing to roll out the Policing Bill which would do just that.
“This fund does not stop the oppressive Policing Bill criminalising trespass whilst there are almost no dedicated spaces to pull up roadside, as we have done for thousands of years. We do not turn a blind eye to this Bill with the launch of this new Fund. Moving for Change calls on every local council to apply for this fund and finally give the services that their communities need.”
The Fund, open until 13th June, 2022, only applies to the restrictive government definition of Romany Gypsies, Irish Travellers, New Travellers and Travelling Show People revised in 2015 in the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites.
What you can do:
Send the news of this Fund to your council leaders to demand adequate provision for their Gypsy and Traveller communities at last. Find your Council Leader or Council Chair through the WriteToThem tool. If in doubt, write to them all.
English councils can apply to the Traveller Site Fund 2022/2023 here until 13th June, 2022. For fund queries email [email protected]
Editors notes:
Moving for Change exists to improve the quality of life for nomadic Gypsies and Travellers and the communities in which they live across the UK. Our primary focus is to secure the wellbeing and rights of Gypsies and Travellers living on roadside camps. Our vision is that Gypsy and Traveller people across the UK will be able to continue their traditional way of life, which is nomadic.
Moving for Change is a Gypsy and Traveller-led consortium of Gypsy and Traveller organisations across the UK.
