PLANNING PERMISSION FOR GYPSY & TRAVELLER TRANSIT SITE

At a meeting of Cheshire East Council’s Strategic Planning Board on Wednesday 18th August, permission was granted for a Gypsy & Traveller Transit Site at the former Cledford Farm (Middlewich). In addition to the removal of green belt sites formerly allocated for development, the provision of a Transit Site was a key element of the SADPD (Local Plan Part II) which was approved by Council earlier this year. Local authorities are required to assess the need to accommodate members of the gypsy and traveller community when undertaking a review of housing needs.

Transit sites are permanent sites intended for temporary use by members of the gypsy & traveller community. Each pitch is capable of accommodating two caravans and two cars. The pitches also include electrical hook-ups and a standpipe for drinking water and drainage. If travellers refuse the pitch, as directed, they will have to leave the borough and cannot return for three months. They are also required to pay a daily rental fee for each pitch that they occupy, as well as to use the communal laundry and showering facilities that will be provided on site.

Having a transit site will play an important role in helping to reduce the number of unauthorised encampments in Cheshire East, as it equips the police with powers to direct Travellers to a suitable pitch on a site owned by the local authority. Under current powers available to Cheshire East Council, the process of securing a court order to move traveller encampments on can take between five and seven working days; however the provision of a transit site means that the police will have the powers to direct unauthorised encampments to that site in as little as three hours.

The existence of a transit site allows the police to use the "power to direct" under Section 62 of the Criminal Justice & Public Order Act (1994). Evidence from other authorities that have introduced transit sites suggests that they are very effective in reducing the number of unauthorised encampments; for example, Telford & Wrekin Council had 150 encampments in 2015, but this fell to just 18 following the provision of a transit site in 2017. Similarly, in Halton, unauthorised encampments fell from an annual figure of 83 to just 17 following the introduction of a transit site.

This will be the first time in its history that Cheshire East Council will have had a transit site. It will be good news for residents of the borough who have been beset with localised encampments over recent years, but it will also be good news for traveller communities who will have an officially recognised site at which to pitch up and with access to essential facilities.