Travelling Showpeople Pitches/Sites
Case reference FOI2022/00439
Published 12 May 2022
Request
Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, please provide me with the following details:
Q1. How many Gypsy and traveller transit, residential/permanent, Travelling Showpeople pitches are there in the council's district?
Q2. How many more pitches are currently needed in the council area and by when?
Q3. Have any future, potential pitches been identified - if so, how many?
Q4. Since November 2017, how many new Gypsy and traveller transit, permanent and Travelling Showpeople pitches have been created?
Q5. Since November 2017, how much money has the council received in Traveller Pitch Funding to build new traveller sites?
Q6. Since November 2017, how much money has the council spent trying to deliver new transit, permanent and Travelling Showpeople sites?
Response
Under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, please provide me with the following details:
Q1. How many Gypsy and traveller transit, residential/permanent, Travelling Show people pitches are there in the council's district?
There are 4 travelling show people yards with 10 plots.
On private sites, there are 44 residential gypsy pitches on 30 sites and 14 pitches located on 2 unauthorised tolerated developments.
On council owned traveller sites we have 54 pitches over 5 sites.
Q2. How many more pitches are currently needed in the council area and by when?
The Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) is being updated and will be published on the council's webpages in the near future. This will form the evidence base for the Local Plan update. The previous GTAA was prepared in 2015 and updated in 2017. This GTAA was used for the preparation of the Travellers Sites Development Plan. This plan set out a five year requirement for pitches and plots as follows:
5 year pitch need for residential traveler pitches (2018/19 to 2022/23) - Cultural need = 52 pitches of which PPTS (Planning policy for traveler's sites DCLG 2015) need is 19 pitches
TOTAL pitch need 2018/19 to 2030/31 (Local Plan Period) Cultural need = 83 pitches of which PPTS need is 30 pitches
Travelling Show people plots requirement = 10
Q3. Have any future, potential pitches been identified - if so, how many?
A3. The Traveller Sites development plan allocated the following pitches:
Site Name and Number of Pitches :
· Romany Way Grafton: 1
· Extension to Orchard Caravan Park, Lower Bullingham :2
· Openfields Bromyard : 2
· Extension to Pembridge : 4
· Extension to Oakfield Nash End Lane: 4
TOTAL - 13
No travelling show plots were identified.
A temporary stopping place with 5 pitches was identified.
Q4. Since November 2017, how many new Gypsy and traveller transit, permanent and Travelling Show people pitches have been created?
A4. No travelling show plots have been created since 2017.
Six private permanent gypsy and traveller pitches have been built since 2017. A further 6 private pitches have been granted planning permission but have not been completed yet.
Q5. Since November 2017, how much money has the council received in Traveller Pitch Funding to build new traveller sites?
A5. No funding has been received by way of grants although the council has borrowed £1,848,354 through its annual capital bid allocation for two projects to both refurbish council traveller sites and provide new pitches through the extension of existing council owned sites.
Q6. Since November 2017, how much money has the council spent trying to deliver new transit, permanent and Travelling Show people sites?
A6. £729,850 as of 30 April 2022.
.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.