Cornwall Local Plan
Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Communities
Monitoring Report 2015-16
Cornwall Council
November 2016
1.1Introduction
1.1This is the second Monitoring Report published by Cornwall Council on the delivery of Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople pitches and plots in Cornwall. This document providesdetail on the development and setting of local accommodation targets as included in the Cornwall Local Plan: Strategic Policies document plus detailed information on delivery to date.In addition, readers may wish to look at the Cornwall Council commissioned study on the Accommodation Needs of Travellers as this provides useful contextual information. Targets have now been set and future versions of this Monitoring report will focus on the delivery against these targets for the monitoring year in question and other information as appropriate.
2.1National Policy
2.1In August 2015 the Government published updated ‘Planning Policy for Traveller Sites’ guidance[1], which proposes to change the definition of ‘traveller’ for planning related purposes so that it would exclude those who have permanently ceased from travelling. The guidance also strengthens policy in terms of the Green Belt and other protected areas.
3.1Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessments and the Development of Targets for Cornwall
3.1The Cornwall Local Plan: Strategic Policies document was submitted to the Secretary of State for examination in February 2015.
3.2The Inspector examining the Cornwall Local Plan: Strategic Policies document at the first week of Hearings in May 2015 considered that ‘the methodology for identifying the permanent accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers is not sufficiently robust and comprehensive to provide a sound figure of need in the plan’. The Inspectors main concerns were a lack of active and targeted consultation with representatives of the Gypsy & Traveller community, the use of data on overcrowding on pitches, vacancy rates and the limited mix of Travellers on the public sites and no up to date assessment of Travelling Showpeople needs. It was alsoconcluded that the target for Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople should be up to 2030.Concentrating on the delivery of transit sites was more important to the Inspector than additional work on updating evidence as the need for these types of sites should be reviewed in the light of provision made in the short term.
3.3The Cornwall Local Plan: Strategic Policies examination was suspended until early 2016 in order that Cornwall Council undertake further work including updating the evidence that underpins the Gypsy & Traveller Policy. This further work resulted in a study being commissioned to re-assess the need for additional accommodation for Gypsies and Travellers in Cornwall.
3.4The purpose of this new assessment was to quantify the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers (including Travelling Showpeople) - primarily in terms of residential sites for the period 2015 to 2030, but also to consider the requirement for transit provision.It should be noted that the study commenced prior to the Government changing the definition of Gypsies and Travellers to exclude those who have ceased to travel permanently.
3.5The2015 Needs Assessment indicated that at the time of assessment, demand for residential pitches exceeded the existing supply by 139 pitches. Based on survey data, this figure increased to 198 pitches through family formation by 2020, and to 318 pitches by 2030.
- The Local Plan Examiners report was published in September 2016, and recommended that the plan was sound subject to a number of main modifications. This included revising the targets to those recommended in the needs assessment.The Cornwall Local Plan: Strategic Policies document was subsequently adopted by Cornwall Council on 22nd November 2016 and includes the following targets from 2015 to 2030:318 permanent residential pitches;
- 60 Transit pitches; and
- 11 Travelling Showpeople plots.
3.6The Council intends to produce a Gypsy & Travelling Communities Site Allocations Development Plan Document (DPD) that will identify a range of residential, transit and Showpeople sites as required to meet the needs identified in the Local Plan: Strategic Policies document, and to identify small sites as emergency stopping places. As such, the Council has produced a scoping report on what the DPD could contain and has consulted widely with local residents and key stakeholders for their comments on what is proposed. This consultation concluded in June 2016and work is underway on the preparation of a draft Development Plan Document.
4.1Monitoring Framework
4.1National policy is clear that Cornwall Council needs to identify and update annually a supply of specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years’ worth of sites against their locally set targets, and a supply of specific developable sites or broad locations for growth for years 6-10 and, where possible, for years 11-15.
4.2Once the Travelling Communities Site Allocations DPD is sufficiently advanced, a detailed Travelling Communities Pitch and Plot Trajectory will be prepared and monitored. In the interim, development is likely to continue to come forward through the delivery of windfall sites which can be monitored.
4.3Windfall sites are unallocated sites that are granted planning permission. Historically, windfall sites have been the mainsource of Gypsy and Traveller pitch delivery in Cornwall. Since 2006, around 13 Gypsy and Traveller private pitches have been delivered per year. The introduction of an adopted Local Plan and associated Travelling Communities Site Allocations DPD means delivery on this scale is unlikely to meet the need identified for the whole Local Plan period.
4.4Table 1 identifies the number of new permanent residential pitches that have been granted permission between the 1st April 2015 and the start of the new assessment:
Table 1: Delivery of Permanent Residential PitchesSite / Pitches / Caravans / Date Permitted
4a Minorca Lane (Certificate of Lawful Use) / 1 / 1 / 01/04/2015
Land S of Little Hallaze / 8 / 16 / 22/04/2015
Totals / 9 / 17
4.5Given that the targets detailed in paragraph 3.6 are about to be approved, Table 2 identifies the number of new permanent residential pitches that have been granted permission from the start of the new assessment to31st March 2016:
Table 2: Delivery of Permanent Residential PitchesSite / Pitches / Caravans / Date Permitted
Land at Bowling Green, Bugle / 10 / 20 / 23/11/2015
Land NW of Carne Cottages / 3 / 6 / 10/02/2016
Totals / 13 / 26
4.6This leaves a requirement for an additional 305 (318 pitches minus 13) permanent residential pitches to be found between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2030.
4.7In terms of transit pitches, Table 3 identifies the number of permissions granted between 1st April 2015 and 31st March 2016. This leave a requirement for 45 (60 pitches minus 15) transit pitches to be found between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2030:
Table 3: Delivery of Transit PitchesSite / Pitches / Caravans / Date Permitted
Land W of A38, South Trevido, Horningtops / 15 / 30 / 21/01/2016
Totals / 15 / 30
4.8In terms of Travelling Showpeople plots, Table 4 identifies the permissions granted between 1st April 2015 and 31st March 2016. This leaves a requirement for 8 (11 plots minus 3) Travelling Showpeople plots to be found between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2030.
Table 4: Delivery of Travelling Showpeople PlotsSite / Plots / Date Permitted
Puddle Cottage, A39 between Valley Truckle and Knights Mill Hill / 3 / 01/03/2016
Totals / 3
Glossary
Gypsies and Travellers:Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people travelling together as such.
Travelling Showpeople: Members of a group organised for the purposes of holding fairs, circuses or shows (whether or not travelling together as such). This includes such persons who on the grounds of their own or their family’s or dependants’ more localised pattern of trading, educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, but excludes Gypsies and Travellers as defined above.
Pitch: a pitch on a gypsy and traveller site, i.e. residential pitches for “gypsies and travellers.
Plot:a pitch on a Travelling Showpeople site (often called a yard), i.e. mixed-use plots which may/will need to incorporate space or to be split to allow for the storage of equipment.
Authorised Site: a site which has planning permissionfor use as a Gypsy and Traveller site.
Emergency Stopping Place: a licensed short-term Gypsy andTraveller site (or sometimes a‘tolerated’ but unauthorised location)to which Gypsies and Travellers can be directed when in need. Fewerfacilities are available than on transitsites and usually residents would onlybe able to remain at such a site for afew days.
Permanent / Residential Site: an authorised site intended for long-stayuse by residents. No maximumlength of stay is set unless planningpermission is on a temporary basis.
Transit Site: an authorised site intended for short-termuse by those in transit to otherareas. The site is permanent butpeople who stay on it may only do sofor a temporary period (normally forup to three months). Normally thesesites have fewer facilities thanpermanent/residential sites.
Unauthorised Encampment: a piece of land where Gypsies andTravellers reside without planningpermission. The land is not in theownership of those involved in theencampment.
[1]DCLG (2015) Planning Policy for Traveller Sites