Background

9. The requirements for providing Gypsy and Traveller sites are set out in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) (2021). Paragraph 68 of the NPPF sets out that local plans should include specific deliverable sites for years 1 to 5 of the plan period and developable sites for years 6-10 and where possible years 11-15.  

10. The allied guidance to the NPPF specifically for Gypsies and Travellers is called the Planning Policy for Travellers Sites (PPTS) (2015). This makes the same point at paragraph 10 about local plans having ‘specific deliverable sites sufficient to provide 5 years-worth of sites against their locally set targets… [and] specific, developable sites, or broad locations for growth, for years 6 to 10 and, where possible, for years 11-15’.

11. The PPTS also contains a definition of Gypsies and Travellers for planning purposes which focuses on people who continue to lead a nomadic lifestyle, as opposed to those households who are Gypsies and Travellers by ethnic background but who have permanently ceased to travel.  However, this definition was the subject of a Court of Appeal decision in October 2022.  The judgment concluded that the PPTS discriminates against Gypsies and Travellers who have ceased to travel due to disability or old age.  No data is currently available to fully answer the question that the court case raises as it is not possible to determine how many Gypsies and Travellers living in bricks and mortar accommodation would want to move back into a caravan, including those who have ceased to travel through age or disability.  Work for the GNLP is ongoing on this issue. 

12. As required by national planning policy, the Partnership has evidence showing how many Gypsy and Traveller pitches the Greater Norwich area needs. This evidence was commissioned from RRR.  The GTAA that RRR produced found a total need for 50 residential pitches to meet the total ethnic need.  This figure has since been revised to 53 pitches as more recent evidence has shown that refurbishment work at the existing Swanton Road site in Norwich will deliver 3 fewer pitches than was originally expected.

13. Using the GTAA as the evidence base and applying the most recent information about sites under construction, the need for 53 pitches to meet ethnic needs to the timescales in Table 1 below has been identified:

Table 1 Pitch Numbers for the Ethnic Need Requirement