Speaking in yesterday’s meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Shadow Minister for Social Justice and North Wales MS Mark Isherwood raised the concerns of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in North Wales that their accommodation needs are still not being met and called on the Welsh Government to respond.
Questioning the Social Justice Minister, Mr Isherwood highlighted their frustration that there has been no effective engagement with them regarding Local Authority Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments and as a result their accommodation needs have not been met. He told the Minister this has left the Gypsy community in North Wales feeling “completely let down by people they wanted to trust”.
Addressing the Minister, Jane Hutt MS, he said:
“As you know from correspondence, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in North Wales have expressed serious concern that Local Authority Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments have not engaged with them, and, therefore, fail to identify their accommodation needs. An advocate for them wrote to your department, stating that ‘they are continuing to campaign for new sites, even if politicians of all parties and professional officers resolutely ignore them’, and that the present law and guidance in Wales - Welsh Government law and guidance – ‘does not ensure local authorities build new sites, residential or transit, or enable planning permission for private sites’.
“In terms of your own responsibilities in Wales, your Communities Division's response only states, 'We strongly recommend local authorities to closely follow the guidance, along with any studies currently under way'. How do you, therefore, respond to the Gypsies in North Wales themselves who stated, 'Having meetings about sites without a Gypsy there is Racism’,. ‘Very shortly, we will have no Transit sites in North Wales and South Wales’, ‘We feel we have been completely let down by people who I wanted to trust’, and ‘please tell them not to complain when the families who need transit and permanent sites, not included in Council Plans, pull up on fields et cetera'?”
In her response, the Minister said:
“We recreated this duty - the Welsh Government and the Senedd here - to identify and meet the need for appropriate accommodation. That's within the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, and, in fact, we have seen well over 200 new pitches created or refurbished, mainly on smaller sites, and that is compared with what happened before that, which was just a handful, and we're also funding local authorities to build new pitches and refurbish many more.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“You and I attended in 2005 the launch of the report on Accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in Llandrindod Wells, if I remember correctly, and the legislation followed. But the point here is that the members of the community themselves are saying that their voice has not been heard in the Assessments that have been submitted to you, and therefore they don't reflect real need and set up a time-bomb of issues for the future.”