Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Travellers pitch up in Downhills Park
Three caravans and 2 camper vans seem to have set up home in Downhills Park.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Michael Anderson on
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There is an excellent example of a well managed traveller site in Camden Town (St Martin's Square). Those with pitches on the site pay rent and this is used for management, waste disposal, water etc. The real problem is the lack of decent sites in London. Apparently the St Martin's site has a waiting time of something like 20 years before a household can reasonably expect to be offered a pitch.
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Permalink Reply by Antoinette on
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Do they also pay Council tax would you know?
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Don't know Antionette
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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The Swansea Council leaflet I added below has the following to say on the matter:
Being a Gypsy and Traveller does not mean you are more likely to avoid paying taxes than anyone else. Gypsies and Travellers pay road tax, VAT on goods and services, and income tax when working or self-employed. They pay council tax, rent, licence fees and other utility charges on settled sites. Public sites are funded through rent collected from residents, and in some cases the rents payable are more than that for the local authority housing. Many Gypsies and Travellers without a fixed address are unable to open a bank account or register as self-employed.
I assume that Haringey's policy would be the same.
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Yes any local authority run site includes rent and council tax The residents are Council Tenants and are covered by the same procedures.
In August 2015 the Government introduced a change to the planning definition of Traveller - through a policy announcement not through legislation. This states that now, you are only a Traveller if you can prove you travel . So, if you are living on an authorised pitch on a council or private site or in bricks and mortar , so that your children can attend school, or because you no longer travel as there are few temporary stopping sites, then you no longer qualify as a Traveller. If your grown up children want to apply for, or find a pitch on which to live they are now required to travel around to prove they are Travellers. But there are no "haltlng sites" . I hope this information is useful to the debate.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah on
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But why should we pay? Why can't they pay for it themselves? Presumably they are not paying council tax in the area, so it seems like a case of wanting something for nothing.
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Why single me out? I have no issue with the travelling community...and haven't expressed any. The caravans and camper vans have no business parking in the park is my only concern...
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Happy to back you up, I also don't want people camping in the park. There are 6 caravans and vans there now.
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Haringey has two legal, council run Traveller sites for long term residents. About ten years ago they closed a third site offering their tenants compensation which would only be paid if they could find a new pitch. They found Dale farm in Essex which was already settled by other families and expanding.
As OAE suggests, "halting" sites are a good thing but in fact there are no such sites in London. The two existing sites are long term. Leeds city council and local Traveller groups developed a “negotiated stopping protocol”. This is for short stay families passing through the area. Since this system was adopted eighteen months ago there have been no evictions, no court cases and no tensions with the settled community.
I hope this information helps.
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Interesting graphic in the report linked to below which shows the disparity between the number of new pitches that were estimated to meet need and the number of actual new pitches identified in each London borough (page 10)
http://www.lgtu.org.uk/publications/20160630%20Planning%20for%20the...
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Sincere thanks to Gbee and Michael. Very useful info. But inveterate Irish Traveller that I am, I'm just off to Rome and will peruse those graphics etc next week. Probably camping out in the Forum.
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