Gypsy and Traveller policy unveiled

A report was submitted to Cabinet yesterday which will see a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment undertaken in Hyndburn. Cllr Clare Pritchard, Deputy Leader of HBC and portfolio holder for Housing and Regeneration, put forward the report which was unanimously approved.

The assessment will demonstrate how much Hyndburn already does for the gyspy community in order to put safeguards in place to prevent further pressure being put on the borough in future years. Other boroughs have been accused of doing far less in the provision of traveller sites and no policy was written into the Northwest Spatial Strategy in 2008 to ensure that camp sites are distributed evenly across the region. This new report will go some way to addressing that issue and force other boroughs to provide accommodation in addition to that which Hyndburn already provides.

There are numerous legal gyspy sites across Hyndburn and this does not refer to the illegal emcampments which have caused the local Council problems in the past. Each Council is expected to provide designated areas for travellers and historically Hyndburn has always set aside more land than is is required to do. However, the lack of areas in neighbouring boroughs is placing greater pressure on Hyndburn and the Council is actively addressing this matter in various ways.

A link to the Cabinet report can be found here:

http://www.hyndburnbc.gov.uk/downloads/10b._Gypsy_and_Traveller_Accommodation_Assessment.pdf