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The government is not doing enough to ensure sites are provided for gypsies and travellers, a cross-party group of MPs has warned.

In their report to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister they say that without government intervention gypsies and travellers will continue to set up illegal camps.

The MPs want the government to reintroduce the statutory duty abolished in 1994 that forced councils to provide temporary or permanent sites for travellers and gypsies.

The report also proposes ring-fenced funds to enable councils to build sites. It states there are 3,500 individuals with nowhere to park their caravans.


This is because not all councils continued to provide for travellers when the former statutory duty in the Caravans Sites Act 1968 was abolished in 1994.

Gypsies and travellers have recently won a series of High Court cases to remain on unauthorised land because of the lack of sites.

The government has introduced housing needs assessments for gypsies and travellers as part of the Housing Bill now in its final stages which would see councils across England being required to ensure travellers' housing needs are met by regions' planning strategies.