London Mayor slammed over ‘U-turn’ on traveller sites
Jennette Arnold OBE AM with Christine Cauley, housed traveller from Hackney; and Frieda Schiker, Director of London Gypsy and Travellers Unit
London Mayor Boris Johnson was accused of “blatant discrimination” by London assembly member Jennette Arnold on Wednesday (13 October) at this month’s Mayor’s Question Time, following his proposal to scrap targets for Traveller pitches from the London Plan.
Ms Arnold, who represents the capital’s northeast constituency (which includes Hackney), said the mayor had made a U-turn over the removal of council quotas for new sites.
“I believe that your actions amount to blatant discrimination to the London ethnic Gypsy and Traveller group,” she told Mayor Johnson.
The Mayor, however, rejected the allegations, saying: “I appreciate the needs of those who have an aversion to bricks and mortar.”
The London Plan, a twenty-five year scheme for London’s housing and planning, originally allocated 554 new gypsy sites across London’s boroughs, as recommended by the 2008 Fordham assessment. Under the new draft, each council would be free to chose whether to create any new sites if the Mayor scraps policy 3.9 of the London Plan, which sets out how many pitches each local authority should provide.
Some, like Hackney, have recently built new sites but others “have not built a single one, even though they had a statutory responsibility,” said Ms Arnold.
Mr Johnson responded: “There are plenty of other groups that have particular housing needs – the elderly or students – and we don’t feature them in the London Plan. We are content to leave it to the boroughs.
“There is an issue of equity. For a Gypsy or Traveller’s pitch you’re talking about 30 units per hectare compared to 130 units for other housing in this city, so they are very space-hungry commitments and I think it is sensible to work with the boroughs to satisfy the demand in their areas.”
Ms Arnold announced her intention to inform the Equality and Human Rights Commission about the situation.
The amendment to the plan has also proved controversial with other assembly members.
Two days previously (Monday 11 October), John Biggs, assembly member for City and East London, joined Ms Arnold and protesters from Hackney as they demonstrated outside City Hall to demonstrate against the decision. More than 50 men, women and children from the gypsy and traveller community protested outside, whilst inside the London Plan Scrutiny Panel and industry experts debated Boris Johnson’s plans to scrap targets to provide new pitches for Gypsies and Travellers across London.
Jennette Arnold AM said: “The Mayor says that he represents all Londoners, but when he discriminates so blatantly against one of London’s ethnic groups it makes this hard to believe.
“Targets mean pitches can be spread evenly and fairly across London. At the moment we have 27 pitches in Hackney but Barnet, for example, has never had any. This sets a very worrying precedent with the Mayor of London deciding that he will help some councils keep certain groups of Londoners out of their backyard. London’s Mayor needs to step up, take a real lead on this issue and truly represent all Londoners.”
Christine Cawley, (pictured) one of the protesters from Hackney, said: “I am a housed Traveller living in Hackney. I don’t want to be living in housing but I have to because of the lack of pitches available in London. There is no other group in London whose culture and way of life is so discriminated against. The Mayor has no understanding of the damage done to our community when we cannot live as Travellers.”
I think Boris has this right. If Hackney wants to use the money of its residents to build caravan parks rather than improving the roads, the bin collections or the shocking Hackney Schools, then that’s its choice. It’s called localism. Barnet have clearly decided they don’t want to waste their residents’ money building shanty towns for travellers.
Of course Gypsies have a right to somewhere to live, but that’s very different from having a right to come to an area and demand that the residents pay to build them their own site. If we have existing sites, travellers should be welcomed as long as they pay a fair rent, service charge and council tax for each plot.
I live in Hackney Wick, an area where many people are struggling to make ends meet at the moment and where we have had travellers stay in the past. I think it is unfair that people in my neighbourhood who are struggling to pay their own rent and bills should be forced to pay to give special treatment to another group. It is also unfair and even a little sinister that good people are being smeared as “racist” for speaking against funding what is in fact a lifestyle choice.
Matt Woods
Conservative Candidate for Hackney Wick, 2010 Local Elections
I’m a commie and I hate Tories. But I have to agree with Boris and the other poster. Our first concern should be making sure that there is enough housing for everyone who needs it. Once we’ve met that goal, we can then have the luxury of developing housing options that suit specific ‘needs.’
I appreciate that Irish Travellers feel it is part of their culture to live in caravans or whatnot. But cultures adapt. Moving into flats will not destroy the Irish Traveller culture. There certainly must be a lot more to their culture than living in a caravan.
Just for the record Hackney have not recently built new sites.
The LDA paid for 3 replacement sites for the 20 Hackney Traveller families whose council run site was compulsorily purchased for the Olympics.
The numbers of pitches remained the same so there were no new additions
Hackney Council may have been considering further pitches, whilst the targets remained in the London Plan. It is unclear at present how they will proceed.
Localism means each Council paying for its share of the Olympic Park.
It also means Tory and Lib Dem Councils heaping responsibility onto Councils that take their responsibility seriously.
We need better Tory candidates in Hackney when they misunderstand localism this badly.
Matt Woods needs to get a better source for his information. Travellers pay rent, community charge, their water and energy bills and in most circumstances a service charge.
There is enough mis-information and prejudice about so get it right.
The real siginficance of the abolition of Whitehall guidance on Traveller sites is a symbolic one. In order to create a sense of (false) cohesion that fosters feelings of inclusion within the mainstream population, making it easier to believe the lie of us all being ‘in it together’, Tory administrations always go for the soft target. In this case it’s Travellers and the ‘feckless’ unemployed, but 25 years ago it was homosexuals.
What’s worse is, it seems to be working…