Energía nuclear

A nomadic lifestyle has been the hallmark of Gypsies and Travellers in the British Isles for centuries and, as previously noted, has been intimately connected to their identity. The movement from place to place and temporary encampments have more than anything else marked them out from the settled community. The traditional and romantic picture of a horse-drawn wagon stopping in the by-ways has changed to a trailer/caravan hitched to a modern vehicle, often a four-wheel drive, frequently encamped in places considered unsuitable by local authority officials and resented by the public, generating ill feeling and considerable tension. The introduction of legal restrictions on travelling resulted in many Gypsies and Travellers in Southshire and Northshire settling on local authority and private sites and in houses and flats.

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In 2004 the ODPM advised that the Human Rights Act should be carefully considered in relation to parity between settled and travelling communities.

2.5.1. Travelling outlawed

The 1959 Highways Act stated that living on or hawking goods on the roadside was an offence. In 1968, the Caravan Sites Act placed a duty on councils to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers, but many local authorities simply ignored the directive. Others complied with the duty and 75% of Gypsies and Travellers are on local authority or private sites (CRE, 2006). Gypsies and Travellers on sites currently do not have the same legal protection from eviction as social housing tenants who cannot be evicted without a court order and then only if the owner can cite specific grounds set out in the Act.

In 1994 the 1968 Caravan Sites Act was repealed and replaced by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJPOA) which made unauthorised encampments illegal. Gypsies and Travellers were recommended to make their own provision and many did so. However their land purchases were not always preceded by legal searches. Many found themselves on land for which planning permission would be, and was, refused16_{. Appeals frequently}

failed. In March 2005, a leading Gypsy campaigner and his extended family were evicted after losing an eight year legal battle to remain on land he owned17_{. Some families did}

receive permission to erect structures, but many were evicted and had to camp on verges, on waste ground and sometimes on parks or playing fields. Some local authorities

provided a period of toleration of thirty days if there were no serious complaints and some collected rubbish and provided toilets; but many did not18_.

Current government guidance states that Gypsies and Travellers can be moved on by the police using Section 61 of the CJPOA 1994 if more than six vehicles have stopped “for the purpose of residing”, (a vehicle plus a trailer counts as two vehicles), are trespassing or if there is disturbance, criminal damage or the location is considered unsuitable. The police can also issue a Section 61a (CJPOA, 1994), though the legal position lacks clarity if they cannot be directed to an alternative stopping place. If the police decline to act, the owner of the land, frequently the Council, can reclaim their land using Section 55 (CJPOA, 1994)

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In 1991 the European Court of Human Rights (Chapman v the United Kingdom) showed that whereas 80% of planning applications by settled people succeeded, 90% made by Gypsies were refused.

17_{This eviction was highlighted in Kilroy-Silke’s “Week with the Gypsies” Channel 4, April 2005.} 18

On one occasion I was approached by a woman Traveller who requested a toilet as she was unwell. I forwarded the request to the council, but it was refused.

by obtaining a court order (Johnson and Willers, 2004:113-170). To obtain a court order, health and welfare checks have to be carried out prior to eviction. As this can take time, council officers “take the precaution” of instituting a Section 55, soon after a group arrives19_{. It is estimated that nationally 25,000 Gypsies and Travellers have nowhere legal}

to stop.

This shortage of sites has caused extreme tension between the settled and the travelling communities. This combined with unpleasant incidents and high profile evictions, led the government to require all local authorities to undertake an Accommodation Needs

Assessment for Gypsies and Travellers in 2006. Previously referred to as a Housing Needs Assessment, this was appropriately changed to Accommodation Needs Assessment (ANA) to take into account the differing accommodation required by Gypsies, Travellers and Show People. New Age Travellers were not included in the survey. Though there has been controversy over the findings and the number of pitches required, it has provided a bench mark and, at the time of writing, authorities were required to identify suitable land for local authority, private, or “social landlord” sites.

2.5.2. Policies for assimilation and integration

Independence from England led to political and social changes in Ireland, re-examination of Irish identity and the development of strategies to create a modern Ireland. Travellers, as the largest minority, became a focus of attention and policies were developed to reduce the perceived disadvantages of an itinerant life and absorb them into the general

community. In 1963 the government establishedThe Commission on Itinerancy, the purpose of which was “the solution of the itinerant problem” (Ni Shuinear, 1997:40). The policy was reinforced by a thesis onItinerancy and Poverty (McCarthy 1971). The

commission became The National Council for Travelling People and settlement policies were instituted. Nearly a decade later, theReport of the Travelling People Review Body (EUMC, 1983:46) suggested that “The concept of absorption is unacceptable……it is better to think in terms of integration”. When Ireland joined the European Union, the rise in industrialisation and the mechanisation of agriculture increased the pressure on traditional ways of life. Stopping on the roadside became illegal. In 1993 a Task Force on Travelling

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People was established and in 1996 aNational Strategy for Traveller Accommodation was planned. The 2002 National Census showed that 90% of Travellers in the Irish Republic had lived in the same accommodation for a year.

In the three authorities in which I undertook my research, the issue of accommodation dominated all discussions and meetings, almost eclipsing other issues.