The past year has been a very
difficult one for all organisations working with Gypsies, Travellers and Roma.
The government has been reluctant to consult with Gypsies, Travellers and Roma,
or with their organisations even as we
have seen a flood of legislation which directly or indirectly brings them huge
disadvantages. The cover pictures are a
reminder of the Control of Horses Act, 2015, which is already having
devastating effects on horse-drawn Travellers in some parts of the country. As
a Dorset Traveller pointed out, “When they seize a man’s horse, they have no
idea of the value of that animal to the owner.
His livelihood and all he possesses depends on that horse.” This did not initially receive much
publicity, until the “Countryfile” item which revealed that 80% of horses
seized had been destroyed. Travellers
have kindly provided the photographs above to represent their
horses, and these images speak volumes about the deep bond that exists between
them and their beautiful and beloved horses.
The bringing into force of the
dreaded new Planning Policy Guidance for Traveller sites on 31st
August was remarked upon immediately by alert lawyers, and was dismayingly
unaltered from the original disastrous proposals. This flew in the face of many well-argued
consultation responses which pointed out the possible consequences of making it
virtually impossible for Gypsies and Travellers to provide their own sites, as
they had been urged to do at the time of the Criminal Justice and Public Order
Act 1994. The sinister removal of Traveller status from people who had settled
permanently for whatever reason has caused enormous dismay to all Gypsies and
Travellers, who feel that their very existence as culturally distinct ethnic
groups is threatened.
The Housing and Planning Bill
introduced in Parliament in the autumn of 2015 included a clause which removed
from local authorities the duty to assess the accommodation needs of Gypsies
and Travellers. Again, this was noted quite quickly, but despite
representations which pointed out the impact on these hugely disadvantaged and
marginalised groups of people, the government has declined to remove this
clause.
The Horse Passport Regulations
2009 already required horses to be microchipped when owners applied for a
passport but the difficulty of complying when owners had no fixed abode appears
not to have resulted in any guidance on how to proceed in such cases. It was therefore not surprising that the
Microchipping for Dogs (England )
Regulations 2015 similarly overlooked this difficulty. Only in Wales , it
seems, was this noted as an area that required further guidance, but guidance
has not been forthcoming. For nomadic Travellers, their dogs are an important
means of supplementing income by trading or breeding, so this apparently
well-intentioned measure is also a further deprivation with, as yet, no remedy.
We note that organisations
representing Gypsies and Travellers have now said “Dosta!” (Enough!) and have
banded together under the leadership of the Traveller Movement to plan a march
of protest in May. This will focus particularly on the Planning Policy Guidance
as the most detrimental of all the measures introduced in the past year. This
was also the strong feeling of the meeting we held in Marsden , Kent
As followers of Jesus Christ the Churches Network for Gypsies, Travellers and Roma accepts his divine commission to the poor, the oppressed and the marginalised.
Our hope is that we can so present what we believe to be God’s call to us that
all the national churches will join us in speaking out to explain the harm that
is being done to people already suffering severe disadvantages.
Photographs courtesy of Joe Windas, Mary Bird and Lee Hughes
