ePetition - Gypsies and travellers

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Gypsies and travellers

We the undersigned petition Brighton & Hove Council to to take immediate and effective action when gypsies and travellers set up unauthorised encampments on parks and open spaces within the city’s boundary. Immediate action should mean requesting Sussex Police to use their powers under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 rather than using the long-winded process of repossession of the land through the courts. We also petition Council to recognise that providing a permanent site in the city will only accommodate a small number of travellers who wish to remain in the city and will not deal with the problems of the many who have permanent sites elsewhere and come to the city looking for work.

Residents are fed up with the ongoing disruption to their lives, the damage caused by these encampments and the inevitable cost to the city’s taxpayers for clearing up after sites are vacated.

This petition is being run in conjunction with a paper version. It is anticipated that the combined petitions will obtain enough signatures to generate a debate at the Full Council meeting on the 21st July 2011.

This ePetition ran from 10/06/2011 to 07/07/2011 and has now finished.

457 people signed this ePetition.

Council response

The petition was referred from Council on 21 July 2011 to the Cabinet meeting on 22 September and considered alongside a Notice of Motion about the council's responsibilities towards travelling communities and a report on the Traveller Strategy.

The Cabinet Member for Environment & Sustainability advised that he was satisfied that officers were taking the right decisions with regard to unauthorised encampments and working effectively with the Police to take a firm, but fair approach. He stated that the council took its duty of care to Travellers seriously, including the tackling of discrimination and that the focus of the strategic review of the Traveller Strategy would be to improve community cohesion, with work to identify a permanent site continuing. He explained that the council had a Code of Conduct with the Police on how to deal with unauthorised encampments and that Police were making daily visits to sites; the number of unauthorised encampments had increased because protection measures had been installed at many of the usual sites in response to the wishes of residents.

The Cabinet Member explained that consultation on the strategy would be wide-ranging and that the involvement of Overview & Scrutiny was welcomed. He thanked officers and the Police for their ongoing work and called on Members to maintain a constructive and calm approach.

The Cabinet agreed the following recommendations:

(1) That Cabinet approves the timetable for the review of the Traveller Strategy as set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

(2) That Cabinet notes the petition and motion in relation to Traveller matters that have been referred to Cabinet following 21 July Full Council and agrees to consider them as part of the work on the development of the Strategy.

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