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Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation
A report has recently been produced which looks at potential areas which may be suitable for Gypsy and Traveller pitches* in the District. The report was produced by Scott Wilson consultants and looked at the local authority areas of Broxbourne, East Hertfordshire, North Hertfordshire, Stevenage and Welwyn Hatfield.
In order to try and deal with peoples’ queries on this matter, we have provided answers to a substantial list of frequently asked questions (FAQs). We hope that this covers most of the issues which people wish to know about.
Although the report was not formally published for consultation, the Council received a significant number of comments on the report. These were automatically treated as representation to either the Land Allocations document or the Stevenage and North Hertfordshire Action Plan (SNAP), whichever is appropriate. These are the planning documents which will allocate land for various uses in the District, and were published for consultation in early 2008.
The Land Allocations Issues and Options paper included six possible areas of search for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation. A summary and analysis of the representations made regarding these areas has been prepared, along with the Council's reponses.
Summary, analysis and Council's response to comments on Gypsy and Traveller accommodation
Almost 3000 responses were received to the areas of search for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation. These are available below.
Responses to consultation questions (not site specific) (1.02MB)
Barkway representations (3.18MB)
Pirton representations (4.25MB)
Sandon representations (2.15MB)
Whitwell, St Paul's Walden representations (1.51MB)
East of England Plan Single Issue Review
The East of England Regional Assembly (EERA) is currently carrying out a Single Issue Review on Gypsy and Traveller pitch provision. The Issues and Options document was the subject of public consultation in 2007. That document included two options for each District in the region, on the number of Gypsy and Traveller pitches they should provide. The options for North Hertfordshire were 3 and 15 pitches.
At its meeting on 25 January 2008, EERA approved a draft single issue review to the East of England Plan for submission to the Secretary of State. The draft policy was out for public consultation for a twelve week period from 25 February until 16 May 2008.
Draft policy H4, Provision of Pitches Required 2006-2011, includes a requirement for North Hertfordshire to accommodate 15 additional pitches*. 15 pitches is the minimum requirement for all the districts within the region. Beyond 2011, provision is advocated for an additional annual increase of 3% in the level of overall pitch provision.
The Council made representations to the draft single issue review. The next stage in the preparation of the review is an Examination in Public, which is expected to take place in the week beginning 20 October 2008.
North Hertfordshire District Council's Response to the Single Issue Review (26.3KB)
* - a pitch is the space required to accommodate one household and their caravans. A study which was done for the Council and its partners in 2006, found that the average household size for Gypsies across the areas was 3.4 persons. The regional average for the number of caravans per pitch is 1.7. Therefore, on average, a site which included 15 pitches would involve 26 caravans and 51 people. A 15 pitch site is on average approximately 0.3 of a hectare in size.
