Protocol for Managing
Unauthorised
Encampments in Northumberland
Why a Protocol?
The Northumberland Gypsy and
Traveller strategy states that:
‘The Local Government
Association has highlighted that the lack of appropriate
accommodation (long-term accommodation, transit sites etc...) means
that unauthorised encampments are inevitable. This leads into the
‘vicious cycle’ identified by the Commission for Racial Equality -
unauthorised encampments lead to heightened community tension and
negative reporting, leading to pressure not to grant planning
permission, leading to a shortage of authorised sites and to
continued and increased unauthorised encampments.’
It is to address these
issues, and ensure that the welfare of both Travellers and the
settled community are protected and that all parties are clear what
their responsibilities are; that the Protocol has been
developed.
Gypsies and Travellers have been part of the
community in Northumberland for hundreds of years and for the
purposes of this Protocol the definition for Gypsies and Travellers
includes those recognised as a racial group under the Race
Relations Act 1976 and subsequent judicial decisions. These are
Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers and other Gypsies and
Travellers who are ethnic or national in origin who would come in
the definition of a racial group such as Scottish Travellers.
Throughout this strategy, the term ‘Travellers’ has been used to
include all of these groups.
The Government recommends the use of joint
protocols between the local authority, the police and other
relevant agencies. This means that each partner is clear on their
roles and responsibilities and how they work together.
Northumberland County Council and Northumbria Police have
taken advice and guidance from the Guide to Effective use
of Enforcement Powers, Part: 1: Unauthorised Encampments, issued by
the Home Office in 2006. This Protocol has been prepared
following consultation with Northumbria Police, Communities and
Local Government (CLG), Northumberland Gypsy and Traveller Strategy
Group, and organisations representative of a wide range of
Travellers, including Travellers who use unauthorised stopping
places.
The guiding principles of the Protocol
are:
- Balanced consideration of all encampments on their own
merits
- Equal consideration to the rights of Travellers and the settled
community
- Proportionality of all actions
Duties of Protocol
Partners
All partners involved in the Protocol are
concerned with the need to build trust and confidence in local
communities and therefore the need to evict will be balanced
against the need of those involved in, and affected by an
encampment.
Northumberland County Council
(NCC)
NCC must respond to reports of unauthorised
encampments in a timely manner, with the Gypsy and Traveller
Liaison Officer (GTLO) visiting within 24 hours on weekdays. The
Council also has an obligation to carry out welfare assessments on
unauthorised encampments, ensuring that where need is identified
the appropriate department and agencies are alerted. NCC will
identify need through an information sharing process, with the GTLO
informing partner agencies of all encampments and their
constituents.
NCC will ensure that a copy of the Protocol is
available to the Travelling community in written format along with
the Code of Respect and other appropriate material, and both are
clearly explained to the community by the GTLO.
Northumbria
Police
On most occasions the police would be the
first agency called when a new unauthorised encampment is found.
The police do have a duty to uphold the law, but must take into
account humanitarian considerations when deciding on appropriate
action. Where there are reports of violence, threats of
intimidation or criminal damage the police will risk assess the
situation, whether the threats emanate from the Travellers or the
settled community.
Children’s Services
Northumberland’s Traveller Education Service
(NTES) works to ensure that children and young people from
Traveller communities have equal access to education, training and
learning opportunities where they feel safe and are able to enjoy
learning, to achieve and to succeed.
NTES will be notified as soon as encampments
arrive so that children can receive continuity in their educational
experience and NCC records of missing children can be updated.
Health Services
Health professionals within Northumberland
have a remit that included working with Traveller families. It is
expected that the GTLO will contact Health Visitors where
unauthorised encampments are identified.
Provision in
Northumberland
Two local authority Gypsy and Traveller sites
have been established in Northumberland, at Lynemouth and Hartford
Bridge. There has been significant recent investment in both
sites to upgrade the facilities for residents. There is also a
privately owned site in Berwick-upon-Tweed, a Showman’s Guild Site
at Bomarsund and a yard in Ashington, plus access for approximately
19 travelling fairs a year in Northumberland. GRT families are also
resident in private sector housing, lay-ups on farms and on holiday
caravan camps.
Northumberland County Council recognises the
important role that site provision plays as an essential corollary
to tackling unauthorised camping. It is the policy of the
County Council to retain the two local authority Gypsy and
Traveller sites and to ensure that they are managed effectively.
Development plans include policies against which proposals for new
Gypsy sites will be considered.
Local Authority Procedures for
Managing Unauthorised Encampments
In line with Government advice the local
authority will tolerate for an agreed period unauthorised camping
where there are no problems and no nuisance is being caused.
Negotiations with the Travellers and others will take place to
agree a departure date beyond which eviction action may
result. Encampments shall be kept under review and regularly
visited by local authority officers, the frequency of which will
depend on the location and circumstances of the encampment. If a
camp is remotely sited the Police may visit in place of the GTLO
after the initial assessments, otherwise visits will occur no more
than daily but no less than weekly. Changed and deteriorating
circumstances such as nuisance or environmental damage, justified
complaints from the local community or unacceptable increase in the
size of the encampment are likely to precipitate eviction
action.
The County Council will not tolerate
unauthorised encampments which result in criminal or anti social
activity. In such circumstances the Council will immediately issue
a Direction to Leave, giving the Travellers or others a reasonable
time to be off the property. If the Travellers or others fail to
move off the property when requested to do so, a request will be
made to the police to use their powers to evict the Travellers or
the matter will be escalated to court. The police will liaise
with the County Council in respect of the use of their powers.
Encampments on Local Authority
Land
Where an unauthorised encampment is on
land owned by the local authority, it is Northumberland’s
responsibility to lead in determining a course of action.
Unauthorised encampments will be visited by the GTLO as soon as
practicable (Normally within 24 hours on weekdays) who will collect
basic information on the numbers of vehicles and families involved,
past and intended future movement, anticipated length of stay, and
reasons for stay on a proformas. The GTLO will give Travellers the
opportunity to identify any particular health, educational or other
welfare needs.
Relevant information from the visit will
be shared with partners including Traveller Education Service and
Health Visitors where all unauthorised encampments are found.
Health, education and welfare assessments will be carried out by
the relevant professionals and the information will be shared with
the GTLO and Police. A list of contacts in the County Council,
Northumbria Police and all other relevant agencies and
organisations, will be prepared and kept up to date in order to
assist collaborative working. Each department or organisation will
take responsibility for updating their records and ensuring that
this information is disseminated to all partners.
To ensure the best outcomes for the Travellers
and the settled community and to support community cohesion the
encampment will be closely monitored and visited regularly by the
GTLO.
Prior to any decision to evict being taken the
welfare assessments carried out up to that date and further
information provided by the Travellers will be taken into account
in the decision on whether to evict. Where Traveller children gain
access to schools, this will be taken into consideration before a
decision is reached. The health and welfare assessments that have
taken place will be shared via case conference, electronic mail or
telephone calls as appropriate to ensure all parties have
sufficient and timely information on which to base their
judgements.
Regular meetings will be held with all
partners to ensure that Northumberland County Council is meeting
their safeguarding and information sharing duties.
Encampments on Privately Owned
Land
In other cases for encampments on privately
owned land the County Council will expect the landowners to decide
on the appropriate action, including seeking eviction if
appropriate. The County Council will not normally act for
private landowners under these circumstances. For encampments
on land registered as common land or village green and where the
public has a lawful right of access the County Council (including
Parish Councils) may request the police to use their powers to
evict the Travellers.
The Decision to Tolerate
There are locations where immediate action to
move on Travellers must be taken, either because the site is likely
to endanger the health and safety of the group or because the
encampment seriously disrupts the ability of the settled community
to go about their business.
An encampment on local authority or highway
land (including encampments on any designated temporary stopping
places) will not be tolerated and eviction action will be taken
where the encampment:-
- Has caused damage to the land or property on the land, where
necessary involving public protection officers to ensure that all
risks to both the Travellers themselves and to the wider community
are minimised
- Causes, or is likely to cause, a serious Health and Safety
risk, where necessary involving public protection officers to
ensure that all risks to both the travellers themselves and to the
wider community are minimised
- Or unauthorised campers have used threatening, abusive or
insulting words or behaviour to the occupier, a member of his
family or his employee or his agent
- Is causing an obstruction
- Has more than six vehicles on the land
- Where Travellers or others have moved from one site to another
within the same locality having caused nuisance or environmental
damage at any previous site without exceptional reasons for doing
so.
The Council will monitor sites where there are
particular nuisance problems resulting from recurring unauthorised
encampments and take appropriate action in respect of these
sites.
Powers Available for the Removal of
Trespassers
Legislative Context
The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994
(Section 77) gives local authorities powers to control unauthorised
camping which enable the authorities to direct people living in
vehicles on highway land, other unoccupied land or occupied land
without the consent of the occupier, to leave that land and remove
their vehicles and any other property. It is an offence for a
person so directed to fail to comply as soon as practicable with
the direction or to enter the land again with a vehicle within 3
months of the date of the direction.
The 1994 Act (Section 78) also empowers the
Magistrates Courts upon a complaint made by the Council to make an
order requiring the removal from land of any offenders of a
direction, their vehicles and any property and authorising the
local authority to enter the land and take any reasonable steps to
ensure that the order is complied with. It is an offence for
a person wilfully to obstruct an officer authorised to carry out
the Order.
If the landowner or his agent has asked the
unauthorised campers to leave the land by a particular date and
time and they have failed to do so and certain conditions have been
met – namely if any of the persons has caused damage to the land or
property, or used threatening, abusive or insulting words or
behaviour towards the occupier of the land or if there are six or
more vehicles involved; the 1994 Act (Section 61 of the CJPOA)
empowers the police, if requested by the landowner or his agent to
direct trespassers to leave land without reference to the courts.
Section 61 does not apply to most types of highway land.
The 1994 Act (Section 62A) empowers the police
to direct Travellers, or others to remove themselves and their
vehicles and property from land, where an alternative suitable
pitch is available on a relevant camp or caravan site within the
County Council boundaries. Other relevant legislation is: the Human
Rights Act 1998 and the Race Relations (Amendment) Act
2000.
Government Guidance
Advice on managing unauthorised encampments is
contained in the Guide to Effective Use of Enforcement Powers, Part
1: Unauthorised Encampments issued by the Home Office on February
2006. This document stresses that criminal or anti social
activity that might be associated with an unauthorised encampment
should not be tolerated in any circumstances. By contrast
toleration may be appropriate where an encampment is not causing a
level of nuisance which cannot be effectively controlled and in
such cases local authorities should consider providing basic
services such as toilets, a refuse skip and a supply of drinking
water.
The guidance states that local authorities
should not use their powers to evict Travellers or others
needlessly but they should act in a humane and compassionate way;
taking into account the rights and needs of the Travellers and
others, the landowners and the wider community whose lives may be
affected by the situation.
In all cases local authorities are required to
take careful account of their statutory obligations under other
legislation e.g. to make appropriate educational provision, to
provide support for children and their families, and in relation to
housing the homeless. Local authorities should also liaise with
other relevant authorities e.g. health authorities. As a
consequence in every case where eviction is being considered local
authorities must consider welfare issues when deciding whether to
proceed and therefore they are advised to undertake welfare
assessments.
Flow charts on procedural matters when dealing
with unauthorised encampments are available and portray the
Protocol in an easy to understand way.
