Travellers: Caravan Sites
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what her planning policy is on (a) authorised and (b) unauthorised traveller sites in the Green Belt.
Answered by Matthew Pennycook
The Government is currently consulting on a number of reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework. These include proposals to release low-quality grey belt land within the Green Belt to meet housing and other development needs. We are seeking views on how the proposals under the NPPF would apply to traveller sites, particularly concerning the sequential test to guide release, the definition of grey belt and previously developed land, and proposals that are considered not to be inappropriate development.
The Planning Policy for Traveller Sites sets out that local authorities should produce their own assessment of need and plan to meet this need through their Local Plan.
Local planning authorities have a wide range of enforcement powers, with strong penalties for non-compliance, which they can use to tackle all types of unauthorised development. Our proposals do not impact on these and we will keep the use of them under review.
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