GIPSY CAMPS (COMPENSATION) (Hansard, 27 March 1963)

§ Mr. John Wells (Maidstone)

I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide compensation for owners of property near to gipsy camps provided or controlled by local authorities. In those areas where gypsies and similar travellers are numerous there is at last a move by local authorities to provide proper camping places for them. In Kent, this problem is particularly acute and the West Ashford Rural District Council has done some excellent pioneer work in providing a camp. Other local authorities are being urged to follow its example. My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary took an active lead in this matter when he was Minister of Housing and Local Government. Circular 6/62, dated 9th February, 1962, from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government, deals extensively with this problem and mentions the good work done by the West Ashford Rural District Council.

Local authorities have power to provide suitable camping sites under Section 24 of the Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act, 1960. Naturally, a gypsy camp, even a small one, is not popular with farmers and other country people who live nearby. Consequently, if we are to have these sites, which many hon. Members on both sides of the House desire and which are now urgently required, the local authorities will have to use compulsory purchase powers if they are to obtain suitable land on which to set up the sites. When a local authority, in the ordinary course of compulsory purchase order, buys land, the neighbouring owners of property have remedies open to them if the new use of the land is objectionable. Naturally, they do not receive any compensation directly, but they can sue the local authority or take other steps against the authority under common law.

A gypsy camp is in a somewhat different category, for the reason that the camp itself is not necessarily objectionable. It is the people who live in it who cause the nuisance. It is impossible for a neighbouring farmer or other property owner to sue a local authority for a nuisance which the local authority has 1329 not committed, and it is impossible for him to sue a number of gypsies who are men of straw.

The neighbouring farmers, therefore, have no redress against these people at present. I do not seek to base my argument on unfounded accusations from people who cannot produce firm evidence. I base my argument on the experience of my own constituents and of other people who have written to me from all parts of southern England, including as far afield as Thornyhill, in Hampshire, I also base my arguments upon the point of view of those local authorities who are anxious to establish these sites.

The sort of nuisance which is being created and which I have in mind can be summarised under five heads: breaking of hedges and fences to gain access to adjoining land for purposes such as grazing horses; the breaking down of fences for firewood; the lopping of conveniently placed trees for firewood and also for selling as log wood; intrusion on to adjoining land with damage to crops; and the frightening of sheep and other livestock by dogs, and, above all, damage to farm buildings.

My Bill would enable local authorities to pay compensation in strictly limited cases where certain neighbouring property owners are situated absolutely adjacent to local authority gypsy camps. I would limit this to camps which are either established or controlled by local authorities. I do not seek to open any floodgates of compensation. The Bill would be confined strictly to these well-defined cases.

1330 I believe that this would enable local authorities to proceed even more willingly and rapidly towards the establishment of these important camps. Unless gypsies are given the chance of settling down in this way, there is little prospect of their children receiving education, which we all desire that they should have; and there is little prospect of their partial integration into modern society unless there is a move to abate this nuisance.

I hope that the Bill will make it easier for local authorities, in their turn, to help gypsies and other travellers and that it will help the farming community to obtain fair treatment. I should like to pay tribute to the work of many hon. Members, and particularly of the hon. Member for Erith and Crayford (Mr. Dodds), in trying to tackle this difficult human problem with courage. I hope that the House will give me leave to introduce the Bill to further work which is supported by hon. Members on both sides of the House.