Gypsy and Traveller sites - Government admits no evidence to justify 3% increase after 2011

Anne Main has today drawn attention to Government answers which show that there is no evidence to support an annual 3% increase in Gypsy and Traveller pitches in St Albans beyond 2011.

Anne Main, MP for St Albans, has today drawn attention to Government answers which show that there is no evidence to support an annual 3% increase in Gypsy and Traveller pitches in St Albans beyond 2011.

In answers to Parliamentary Questions, Government Minister, Iain Wright, revealed that "there has been no projection of the growth of the Gypsy and Traveller population in the East of England by 2050". As part of its Regional Spatial Strategy for the East of England, the Government has decreed that St Albans must find 34 extra Gypsy and Traveller pitches by 2011, and then an additional 3% annual increase beyond that date.

Anne said:

"The Minister admits that there is no evidence to support the need for a 3% year-on-year growth in Gypsy and Traveller pitches beyond 2011, and yet St Albans will be expected to deliver them.

Quite rightly, our local authority is resisting pressure to deliver the 34 extra pitches that are currently being proposed by the Government's Regional Spatial Strategy before 2011. Under this plan, St Albans will be expected to continue to expand its traveller provision indefinitely, despite there being no evidence to suggest that extra provision is needed.

I am completely at a loss as to why the Government feels that it is acceptable to impose 34 pitches against local wishes, to pluck a figure for future increases out of the air without anything to back it up and then, to cap it all, to expect local people to go to great efforts to deliver its targets. I will continue to challenge the Government about this and have written to Mr Wright to point out that, in my opinion, he is pursuing a totally unjustified policy that is completely at odds with the wishes of my constituents. These targets should be scrapped." "