BIRMINGHAM City Council is looking to provide a pool of up to 15 temporary sites for caravan travellers after accepting its provision is inadequate.
A pilot programme could see “negotiated stopping” sites made available from this spring and will involve an unused piece of land being utilised as a temporary stopping place.
The proposals come amid the city council's issues with its transit sites, which are authorised areas where members of the travelling community can be directed to when in the city.
They typically provide hard standing for holding caravans, a secure boundary and basic sanitary provision while some also provide electricity.
But a report, published ahead of a cabinet meeting next week, said the council accepted the provision for the Gypsy, Roma Traveller (GRT) community had “not been adequate”.
It said the authority had two operational transit sites for travellers within the city.
But due to factors such as repeated vandalism and unauthorised encampments, they had not been “consistently operational” in recent years.
One site had been closed to new traveller groups for several years, it added.
“The existing provision does not meet the minimum pitch provision needs of the travelling community and there is no allocated budget for the management of the existing transit sites,” it said.
The report said from 2018/19 to 2022/23, 502 unauthorised encampments were recorded in Birmingham - 78% on publicly-owned land.
It said: “The use of unauthorised encampments presents significant costs to the council, both in terms of managing and moving on sites and remediation to damage and refuse left following an encampment.”
On what affected the ‘longevity’ of any encampment, the report said the council, and other public bodies, had to consider the welfare of anyone who lived in the area.
“Secondly, the available powers are hampered by the lack of an available transit site to direct encampments to,” it continued.
There needed to be a “clear strategic plan” to improve the situation and the “negotiated stopping” scheme could be part of that.
“A pilot programme is scheduled to commence in spring 2025 to gauge the effectiveness of this option in reducing the number of unauthorised encampments and in reducing demand for established transit sites.
“Based on historical data, it is anticipated the counc...
A pilot programme could see “negotiated stopping” sites made available from this spring and will involve an unused piece of land being utilised as a temporary stopping place.
The proposals come amid the city council's issues with its transit sites, which are authorised areas where members of the travelling community can be directed to when in the city.
They typically provide hard standing for holding caravans, a secure boundary and basic sanitary provision while some also provide electricity.
But a report, published ahead of a cabinet meeting next week, said the council accepted the provision for the Gypsy, Roma Traveller (GRT) community had “not been adequate”.
It said the authority had two operational transit sites for travellers within the city.
But due to factors such as repeated vandalism and unauthorised encampments, they had not been “consistently operational” in recent years.
One site had been closed to new traveller groups for several years, it added.
“The existing provision does not meet the minimum pitch provision needs of the travelling community and there is no allocated budget for the management of the existing transit sites,” it said.
The report said from 2018/19 to 2022/23, 502 unauthorised encampments were recorded in Birmingham - 78% on publicly-owned land.
It said: “The use of unauthorised encampments presents significant costs to the council, both in terms of managing and moving on sites and remediation to damage and refuse left following an encampment.”
On what affected the ‘longevity’ of any encampment, the report said the council, and other public bodies, had to consider the welfare of anyone who lived in the area.
“Secondly, the available powers are hampered by the lack of an available transit site to direct encampments to,” it continued.
There needed to be a “clear strategic plan” to improve the situation and the “negotiated stopping” scheme could be part of that.
“A pilot programme is scheduled to commence in spring 2025 to gauge the effectiveness of this option in reducing the number of unauthorised encampments and in reducing demand for established transit sites.
“Based on historical data, it is anticipated the counc...
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Birmingham Mail (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 17, 2025