Communities and Local Government
A selection of images representing communities.
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- Communities and neighbourhoods
- Race, cohesion and faith
- Community Cohesion
- Combating misinformation about migrants and minority ethnic groups
- Facts about Gypsies and Travellers
Communities and neighbourhoods
Facts about Gypsies and Travellers
Myths, rumours and misinformation surround the presence of minority ethnic groups such as Gypsies and Travellers and these can be hard to rebut. However, below are some facts about Gypsies and Travellers that can be used to discredit many of the more popular myths.
- Romany Gypsies have been in Great Britain for over 600 years, and Irish Travellers have also lived and travelled here for generations.
- Both groups are recognised ethnic minorities and are protected by Race Relations legislation.
- Out of around 16,000 Gypsy and Traveller caravans in England, about 12,000 are on authorised, legal sites.
- Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers have their own languages; Romany Gypsies particularly have very strict customs about hygiene and cleanliness, developed over many years to cope with living on the roads.
- Less than one square mile of land would be needed to accommodate every unauthorised caravan in England.
- 91 per cent of all local authorities in England and Wales have Gypsies and Travellers either living in them or passing through.
Facts about planning
- Gypsies and Travellers are subject to the planning system in the same way as any other person. Their developments are subject to policies and guidance like any others.
- Despite what you may have seen in the media, large unauthorised developments are actually very rare, and the average size of an authorised development is only 4 caravans.
- Local authorities are not required to build sites, but where they do the Government has grant funding available to cover the cost of this. The requirement on local authorities is to identify land that is suitable for sites, just as they identify land for businesses or for other types of housing.
Other facts
- Gypsies and Travellers are the most excluded ethnic minorities in this country. Studies suggest that nearly 18 per cent of Gypsy and Traveller mothers will experience the death of a child - compared with less than 1per cent of mothers in the settled community.
- It is much cheaper to provide a site than to enforce against unauthorised encampment in areas that have no site provision - when Bristol City Council built a site they saw their enforcement costs drop from £200,000 a year to £5000 a year.
On other sites
REACH: Inspiring a generation
Tackling a culture of low aspirations and low attainment: The national black role model programme.
