Agenda item

To consider a joint report by the Council’s Strategic Planning & Housing Manager and the Lead Project Manager (copy enclosed) which presents the Committee with the conclusions of the Task and Finish Group established to support the work on the new Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment.  The report also seeks the Committee to formulate recommendations to Cabinet in relation to the draft Assessment.

 

1pm – 2pm

The Lead Member for Planning, Public Protection, Safer Communities and Domestic Abuse alongside the Head of Planning, Public Protection and Countryside Services and Strategic Planning and Housing Manager and Councillor Barry Mellor the Chair of the Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment Task and Finish Group presented the Task and Finish Group’s report on process followed for undertaking Denbighshire’s Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Assessment (2021).  Also attached to the report (previously circulated) was the draft Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA) for Denbighshire.

 

The Lead Member for Planning, Public Protection, Safer Communities and Domestic Abuse gave the Committee some background to the production of the report. The Housing Act (Wales) 2014 placed a legal duty on Local Authorities to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers (Section 101) and subsequently meet those needs (Section 103). There was a legal requirement (Housing (Wales) Act 2014) for GTAAs to be undertaken as a minimum every 5 years and the Council was now therefore required to undertake a new Assessment. An up to date GTAA was also a requirement for the replacement Local Development Plan (LDP). The deadline for the GTAA to be submitted to Welsh Government was 24th February 2022.

 

A robust project management approach had been adopted with the establishment of a Member-led Project Board, with the Leader and Lead Member working with Senior Officers to direct this work ensuring Member involvement, openness and transparency.

 

Elected Members and the Scrutiny Committee had previously raised concerns regarding the level of consultation with Gypsy and Traveller communities and the need for early engagement with Members. Consequently, Communities Scrutiny Committee agreed at its meeting on 13th May 2021 to establish a Task and Finish Group to provide support for the development of the new GTAA.

 

Councillor Barry Mellor, Chair of the Task and Finish Group informed the Committee that the Task and Finish Group had met six times. Its discussions had covered all aspects of the Welsh Government methodology. They reviewed progress on the assessment, communication with all stakeholders and the findings of the draft GTAA report. Their final report was attached to the report as appendix 1.

 

The Work Brief and Stakeholder Communication and Engagement Plan included activities to meet the requirements of the Welsh Government’s methodology as well as additional activities that had been identified as important to the Council. These provided the framework for undertaking the GTAA. The range of additional activities included an on-line survey for members and the involvement of members in promoting the survey – ensuring greater member involvement at an early stage. The employment of a Gypsy, Roma, Traveller Liaison Officer during August also ensured that travelling families staying in the County during the Assessment period were made aware of then Assessment.

 

Closing Councillor Barry Mellor stated that the draft GTAA findings and recommendations had been presented to the Task and Finish Group at its meeting on 15th November.  At that meeting the Group agreed that they were satisfied that the WG methodology had been applied appropriately to the analysis of need and that the additional activities identified previously by Scrutiny had also been undertaken.  Whilst the approach taken had required some considerable commitment from Task and Finish Group members during recent months, they all felt that the approach had worked well.  As a result, the Group had requested that a similar approach be adopted in future when considering potential sites for pitches.   

 

The Lead Member for Planning, Public Protection, Safer Communities and Domestic Abuse thanked Councillor Mellor, and the Task and Finish Group for all the hard work which they had carried out.  He then proceeded to present the Assessment’s conclusions.  The draft Denbighshire GTAA concluded that –

 

·         There was a need for 8 residential pitches to meet the identified needs of 3 households/extended family groups in the County.

·         There was no evidence of need for a permanent transit site, due to the low numbers of unauthorised encampments, short term nature of these encampments and the fact that interviews with Gypsy and Traveller community had not identified a need for permanent transit provision locally. It was recommended that the management based approach currently applied to unauthorised encampments could be further developed based on best practice from across the UK, which may include ‘negotiated stopping’.

·         Future household growth was predicted to be 4 additional households from 2026 – 2033

 

The Lead Member for Planning, Public Protection, Safer Communities and Domestic Abuse, stated that the discussions at the current meeting would be reported to Cabinet on 14th December and the intention was to seek approval at that meeting for submission of the draft GTAA to Welsh Government for its approval.

 

Members discussed the following in further detail:

 

·         Sub heading 7.5 of the ‘Addressing Identified Need’ within the draft GTAA was queried by the committee.  Members requested clarification on what was meant by the phrase ‘desire to meet their own need’. The Lead Member responded that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) communities had expressed that they would rather choose their own sites rather than live on public sites.

·         The Committee queried whether the Task and Finish could continue its work in future to assist the Council with the selection of potential sites, as the Task and Finish Group members had an insight into the needs and wishes of the GRT communities. Responding the Head of Legal, HR and Democratic Services (HoLHRDS) clarified that the production of the GTAA and the choosing of potential sites were two separate processes. He advised that if a Task and Finish Group were to be involved with the selection process, then it would need to be decided by a Scrutiny Committee during the term of the new Council when that process would be undertaken.

·         The Lead Member clarified that Travelling Ahead (Gypsy and Traveller Advocacy Organisation) was a national organisation, however it had regional representation.  The organisation had engaged with the Assessment process and was continuing to liaise with the Council.

·         It was reaffirmed that the Assessment had concluded that there was no need for a permanent transit site in the area.

 

At the conclusion of the discussion the Committee unanimously:

 

Resolved: -

 

(i)   to endorse the conclusions of the Task and Finish Group that –

(a)  the work on the Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment had met the requirements of the Work Brief and Stakeholder Communication and Engagement Plan as endorsed by Communities Scrutiny Committee on 26th July 2021; and

(b)  the Welsh Government methodology had been applied appropriately to the analysis of need. 

(ii)  to confirm its support for the approach adopted for the delivery of Denbighshire’s Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment as being robust and in line with Welsh Government guidance;

(iii)                to confirm that it had read, understood and taken account of the Well-being Impact Assessment (Appendix 3 to the report) as part of its consideration; and

(iv)   to recommend to Cabinet that the draft Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment should be approved for submission to Welsh Government.

 

The Chair and all elected members present recorded their gratitude to the Chair and members of the Task and Finish Group for their diligent work in supporting the delivery of the above work.  Members acknowledged that the assessment process in its entirety had taken a considerable amount of time and effort on both officers and members’ part to plan, monitor and deliver to the required standard.

 

The meeting concluded at 1.30pm