Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has sparked fears of a surge in traveller sites across England by softening planning rules to remove powers from local councils.
Ms Rayner, who unveiled the changes on Monday, made it harder for both residents and councils to oppose applications for retrospective permission for illegal camps.
The new guidance removes requirements for councils to consider “potential environmental damage” and “provide a settled base that limits the need for long-distance travelling” when assessing applications.
It is likely the changes will make it easier to set up new traveller sites, with officials admitting the new policy “may also mean that locations not well-related to existing settlements may be appropriate”.
However, there has already been a 73 per cent rise in the number of unauthorised traveller caravans across England since January 2020, with the number increasing from 2,860 to 4,950.
Ministers are expected to publish specific guidance on applications for traveller sites in “due course”.
The Tories have warned Labour’s reforms meant more communities across the country would be “forced to tolerate lawbreaking from a small minority of travellers”.
Speaking to GB News yesterday, Shadow Housing Secretary Sir James Cleverly said: “The issue of traveller sites, the abuse of the planning system, increased in Labour’s first year in Government by over 20 per cent.
Angela Rayner is changing planning rules on travellers
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“The response to that was they just stopped collecting the figures. So, this is a problem that is escalating under Labour.
“What we are saying is that everybody in the country should play by the same rules and abide by the same laws, and those include planning laws.”
Sir James pointed out how a group of travellers set up a camp in his own constituency of Braintree over the course of a weekend.
The Tories’ proposal, which intends to ban travellers permanently from unauthorised sites, also centres on leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
Traveller sites have surged across England
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GB News revealed last night the five traveller hotspots with the highest number of unauthorised caravans.
Maidstone in Kent secured the top spot with 603 unauthorised caravans recorded in January.
Basildon, which was at the centre of the 2011 Dale Farm eviction, also registered 365 unauthorised caravans last July.
Tandridge, Havering and Bromley completed the traveller hotspot list.
Maidstone and Basildon have emerged as traveller hotspots
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However, Ms Rayner’s planning reforms will also make it easier for developers to gain permission to build houses on the green belt.
Developments near railway stations will be given a “default yes” to drive up the number of homes across England.
Ms Rayner is frantically trying to approve more houses being built as Labour races to deliver 1.5 million new properties by 2029.
Labour has managed to build just over a quarter of the number of houses promised while being more than two years into its five-year term.
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The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government now describes Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto commitment as a “stretching target”.
Asked directly whether Labour is confident of meeting its housing pledge, Ms Rayner said: “I don’t like failure.”
However, Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook appeared to blame the Iran war for housebuilding stalling under Labour.
“As a result largely of that conflict, but not entirely, we’re seeing dampening demand,” Mr Pennycook said.
An MHCLG spokesman said: “The Government is cracking down on illegal traveller sites and it is completely misleading to suggest otherwise.
“Our new planning rules explicitly tackle any potential environmental damage and transport impacts, and make it harder for people to get retrospective permission for development that were built without approval.”