Gypsy, traveller and travelling showpeople provision

SP3 - Gypsy, traveller and travelling showpeople provision. This strategic policy is supporting Local Plan objectives 3, 4, and 5. SP3: Gypsy, traveller and travelling showpeople provision. 1. The Council will seek to meet the identified accommodation needs of Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople over the plan period (2025–2045), as set out in the Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs Assessment (2025), in accordance with the approach defined by national policy. This comprises: a) 360 net additional pitches for Gypsies and Travellers and 23 plots for Travelling Showpeople that meet the Planning Policy for Travellers (PPTS) definition; and b) additional potential need of 321 pitches and 15 plots where PPTS status is undetermined. c) Which totals 681 pitches and 38 travelling showpeople plots, of which the need for the first 10 years is 516 pitches and 30 travelling showpeople plots? 2. To contribute towards meeting the first 10 years, in line with national policy, the Council will allocate 280 pitches and 14 plots. A trajectory is set out in Appendix G demonstrating how this need will be delivered over the plan period. 3. The following new sites are allocated for Gypsy and Traveller accommodation. These are identified on the Policies Map: Waste Transfer Station, Dunton Road, Stewkley 10 pitches Land East off A413, Hardwick 10 pitches Land at Marsh Lane, Terrick, Aylesbury 5 pitches Land off Marroway, Weston Turville 10 pitches Oaktree Stable, Drayton Road, Newton Longville 20 pitches Winslow Road, Granborough 5 pitches Land adjacent to Kingswood Lane, Wootton Underwood 10 pitches Land at Swan Edge Plot 1, Wendover 1 pitch Land at Swan Edge Plot 2, Wendover 1 pitch Gooseberry Hill, Iver Heath 2 pitches Renard, Hollybush Lane, Shredding Green, Iver 1 pitch Tobys Stables, Tobys Lane, Little Missenden 6 pitches AYL02 Land at Southwest Aylesbury (AGT2) 5 pitches AYL01 South Aylesbury (AGT1) 5 pitches NESS005 Haddenham 7 pitches NESS010 Princes Risborough 11 pitches 4. The following existing sites are allocated for intensification or realignment to provide additional Gypsy and Traveller accommodation. These are identified on the Policies Map: Ashbrook Farm, Marsh 4 pitches Baghill Lane, Haddenham 4 pitches Charlottes Farm, Marsh 8 pitches Cow Lane Edlesborough 3 pitches Land adjacent to Dun Roaming Park 2 pitches Land north of Lawn Hill, Edgcott 6 pitches Land off Worminghall Road, Ickford (Fairview, Oakley Road) 10 pitches New Road Weston Turville 5 pitches Oakhaven Park Gawcott 6 pitches Oaksview Park Near Arncott 9 pitches Romany Tan, Wing Road, Cublington 2 pitches Stately Stables 3 pitches The Little Paddock, Great Horwood Road, Nash (Freshways) 2 pitches The Willows, Marsh 5 pitches Twin Oaks East, Princes Risborough 3 pitches Twin Oaks West, Princes Risborough 2 pitches Bottoms Walton, Walton Lane, Burnham (Caravan Site) 15 pitches Field Farm, Spurlands End Rd, Gt Kingshill 9 pitches Five Oaks Farm, Studley Green 1 pitch Green Acres Farm, South of West Hyde Lane, Chalfont St Peter 3 pitches Green Park, Copperkins Lane, Amersham 12 pitches Little Sutton Lane, Langley 2 pitches Sanfoin Farm, Riding Lane, Wooburn Moor 5 pitches The Orchards, West Hyde Lane, Chalfont St Peter 19 pitches The Warren, Rowley Lane, Wexham 4 pitches Thorney Stables, Thorney Lane North, Iver 6 pitches Three Oaks Farm, Roberts Lane, Chalfont St Peter 10 pitches Waggoners Bit Stables 5 pitches West Hyde Stables 6 pitches 5. The following existing sites are allocated for intensification or expansion for additional Travelling Showpeople plots. This are identified on the Policies Map: Fairview, Stoke Hammond 3 plots 227 The Vale, Chesham 1 plot Green Acres, Earl Howe Road, Holmer Green 10 plots 6. Recognising the scale of need and uncertainties in delivery, not all identified need over the plan period will be met through allocations at the outset. The Council will therefore monitor delivery and keep provision under review, identifying further sites where necessary through plan review or other mechanisms. 7. To meet future needs, in years 10 to 21 of the plan period, the following pitches are allocated on NESS sites. NESS003 Aylesbury 15 pitches NESS004 Cheddington 12 pitches NESS008 Buckingham 10 pitches NESS012 Winslow 15 pitches NESS013 Turweston 5 pitches NESS015 Beachampton 15 pitches NESS018 Wing 5 pitches 8. Existing lawful Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople sites will be safeguarded for their continued use. 5.24 The Council is required to set pitch and plot targets for Gypsies and Travellers and plot targets for Travelling Showpeople, which address the likely permanent and transit site accommodation needs. It is required to identify and annually update a five -year supply of deliverable Traveller sites and to identify a supply of specific, developable sites. 5.25 Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers form an ethnic minority group and are legally protected from discrimination under the Equalities Act 2010; the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Human Rights Act 1998. Government guidance sets out that councils should assess and meet Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople’s accommodation needs in the same way as other accommodation needs, including the identification of land for sites. The Government guidance on this is specifically set out in the Planning Policy for Traveller Sites (PPTS). This was first published in March 2012 and updated in December 2024. 5.26 Providing appropriate and adequate accommodation helps to reduce inequalities experienced by the communities by enabling better access to health, educational and welfare services as well as providing security and a sense of belonging. 5.27 The Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Needs Assessment (GTAA) (2025) assessed the needs for travellers during the plan period. It sets out the following needs for Buckinghamshire, breaking it down into 5-year periods. Table 2: Need for Gypsy and Travellers households Year Period Dates PPTS Need Undetermined Need Total 0-5 2025-29 226 224 450 6-10 2030-34 38 28 66 11-15 2035-39 42 30 72 16-20 2040-44 46 33 79 21 2045 8 6 14 0-21 2025-2045 360 321 681 Table 3: Need for Travelling Showpeople households. Year Period Dates PPTS Need Undetermined Need Total 0-5 2025-29 18 9 27 6-10 2030-34 1 2 3 11-15 2035-39 1 2 3 16-20 2040-44 2 2 4 21 2045 1 0 1 0-21 2025-2045 23 15 38 5.28 The GTAA identified that there is no requirement for a transit site to be delivered, due to low levels of encampments within Buckinghamshire. The Council will continue to monitor the level of encampments to determine if this requirement needs reconsidering or if other appropriate measures such as negotiated stopping, emergency stopping places or temporary sites and stopping places are necessary. 5.29 The PPTS, December 2024, sets out in Annex 1 the definition of gypsies and travellers for the purposes of planning policy as: “Persons of nomadic habit of life whatever their race or origin, including such persons who on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependants’ educational or health needs or old age have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently, and all other persons with a cultural tradition of nomadism or of living in a caravan, but excluding members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people travelling together as such.” 5.30 The needs of those households who were surveyed during the GTAA and met this planning definition are captured in the PPTS Needs columns of tables 2 and 3. For the households where interviews were not untaken, their needs are captured as undetermined needs. Whilst their status has not been determined, it is assumed that they are likely to meet the new planning definition. 5.31 To help meet the Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation needs for the first 10 years of the plan period, the above sites have been allocated. New sites, sites with temporary permissions and sites which are unauthorised, that have been listed in the policy, are allocated for the total number of pitches or plots for that site. This means existing temporary or unauthorised pitch numbers are included in the total allocation. For sites listed for intensification or expansion, these numbers are in addition to the existing authorised pitch numbers. 5.32 Unmet need and the undetermined need will be addressed through sites coming forwards through the criteria-based policy, HO7 Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation Policy. 5.33 The spatial strategy for Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople growth was focused on intensifying existing sites, reviewing suitability of temporary and unauthorised sites, new sites promoted through the call for sites exercises. As the needs couldn’t be met outside of the greenbelt, sites within the greenbelt that could be intensified were assessed for exceptional circumstances. Implementation through Development Management Policies 5.34 The delivery of Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation through Policy SP3 will be supported by the Development Management policies in Chapter 7, particularly Policy HO7 (Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Accommodation), together with relevant housing policies relating to affordable housing, specialist accommodation and rural exception sites where appropriate. Proposals will also be expected to comply with other relevant Development Management policies relating to transport and accessibility, infrastructure provision, residential amenity, design and placemaking, health and wellbeing, flood risk, biodiversity, landscape character, the Green Belt, the historic environment and climate change. Together, these policies ensure that accommodation needs are met in a sustainable manner whilst supporting community integration, safeguarding environmental assets and delivering well-designed and appropriately located sites across Buckinghamshire.