Travellers – Social Issues
Travellers (formerly known as gypsies, though terminology varies) have been present in the UK since
at least 1514, probably having come from northern India via the Middle East. In the 16th Century
they were expelled from many European countries including the UK and took up a nomadic life style.
They retained their culture and language, which have of course developed and changed in the
intervening centuries.
The problems faced by Travellers are well documented. An organisation callled Scottish Gypsies put
it in the following terms several years ago and any number of other sources - eg, those mentioned in
the plenary - will provide further insights:
“In most of the world, Gypsies are now held in low esteem and tend to be involved in economically
unimportant activities, which allow them to work on their own behalf. The traditional occupations
are horse-trading, peddling and door to door trading, blacksmithing and metalworking, fortune-
telling and healing, small scale craftwork such as wood carving, and music and entertainment. …The
pressure to stop their nomadic ways and settle is still increasing. …Their cause has not been helped
by the increase in the number of new-age travellers who tend to be seen as a disparate group of
individuals living life by their own rules at the expense of 'law-abiding society', who settle where
they wish, do what they want and leave nothing but destruction behind. This type is exactly what the
Gypsies are not. Nevertheless, the two groups have tended to become confused to the detriment of
the true Romanies. There seems no doubt that with the Gypsies' growing awareness of their
common origins, language and culture that their society will survive.”
Of course not everyone who “travels” will necessarily be a traveller, and this may lead to problems
of definition and, as the quote illustrates, there may be tension between people who consider
themselves to be Gypsies properly so called and others who might be labelled “new age travellers”
and the like.
The exact numbers who chose to live a nomadic life-style is difficult to know. It is estimated that
there are about 300,000 travellers, but the majority have settled. The Department for Communities
and Local Government carry out a twice yearly count of caravans as part of their responsibilities.
Welfare Provision:
The “high point” of provision for travellers was the 1968 Caravan Sites Act, which imposed a legal
duty on local authorities to provide sites. There was, however, a general failure to comply with the
duty and it was repealed in 1994 by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The current
requirements on local authorities to consider and plan for the needs for travellers are to be found in
the Housing Act 1985.
There is a recognised shortage of official legal sites and this has led to a policy by local authorities of
“tolerating” unlawful encampments on their own land. This can often lead to difficult decision as to
when to evict – these have often been subject to judicial review challenges by those on the site,
particularly for failure to take account of the residents’ welfare needs before taking the decision to
evict.
One way in which travellers have sought to provide for their own sites is by buying land. When doing
this, however, they have often come up against planning objections to the use of land.
Travellers (formerly known as gypsies, though terminology varies) have been present in the UK since
at least 1514, probably having come from northern India via the Middle East. In the 16th Century
they were expelled from many European countries including the UK and took up a nomadic life style.
They retained their culture and language, which have of course developed and changed in the
intervening centuries.
The problems faced by Travellers are well documented. An organisation callled Scottish Gypsies put
it in the following terms several years ago and any number of other sources - eg, those mentioned in
the plenary - will provide further insights:
“In most of the world, Gypsies are now held in low esteem and tend to be involved in economically
unimportant activities, which allow them to work on their own behalf. The traditional occupations
are horse-trading, peddling and door to door trading, blacksmithing and metalworking, fortune-
telling and healing, small scale craftwork such as wood carving, and music and entertainment. …The
pressure to stop their nomadic ways and settle is still increasing. …Their cause has not been helped
by the increase in the number of new-age travellers who tend to be seen as a disparate group of
individuals living life by their own rules at the expense of 'law-abiding society', who settle where
they wish, do what they want and leave nothing but destruction behind. This type is exactly what the
Gypsies are not. Nevertheless, the two groups have tended to become confused to the detriment of
the true Romanies. There seems no doubt that with the Gypsies' growing awareness of their
common origins, language and culture that their society will survive.”
Of course not everyone who “travels” will necessarily be a traveller, and this may lead to problems
of definition and, as the quote illustrates, there may be tension between people who consider
themselves to be Gypsies properly so called and others who might be labelled “new age travellers”
and the like.
The exact numbers who chose to live a nomadic life-style is difficult to know. It is estimated that
there are about 300,000 travellers, but the majority have settled. The Department for Communities
and Local Government carry out a twice yearly count of caravans as part of their responsibilities.
Welfare Provision:
The “high point” of provision for travellers was the 1968 Caravan Sites Act, which imposed a legal
duty on local authorities to provide sites. There was, however, a general failure to comply with the
duty and it was repealed in 1994 by the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. The current
requirements on local authorities to consider and plan for the needs for travellers are to be found in
the Housing Act 1985.
There is a recognised shortage of official legal sites and this has led to a policy by local authorities of
“tolerating” unlawful encampments on their own land. This can often lead to difficult decision as to
when to evict – these have often been subject to judicial review challenges by those on the site,
particularly for failure to take account of the residents’ welfare needs before taking the decision to
evict.
One way in which travellers have sought to provide for their own sites is by buying land. When doing
this, however, they have often come up against planning objections to the use of land.
