§ 13. Mr. Hastingsasked the Secretary of State for the Environment what is the average cost per caravan of gipsy sites since the coming into force of the Caravan Sites Act 1968.
§ Mr. Graham PageI regret that this information is not available.
§ Mr. HastingsThat is a pity, and I hope that my right hon. Friend will do something to try to find it out, because the policy is not working very well. I recognise that it is not the fault of the gipsies that their way of life has become much more difficult. Nevertheless, the problem is large in the Midlands, and in particular in Bedfordshire.
I ask my right hon. Friend to consider three possibilities—first, of preventing unauthorised camps within a radius of a certain number of miles around a local authority site; secondly, of ensuring that there is a proper system of inspection and fines, or even eviction, if a proper standard of cleanliness is not maintained and, finally, of ensuring that an effort is made to see that these people, who are often pretty well off, pay taxes and television licence fees in the same way as others do, as that may go some way towards alleviating the worry felt by many who live near these sites?
§ Mr. PageI do not think that the setting up of an inquiry to discover the average cost of supplying sites would solve any of the problems mentioned by my hon. Friend. It would not be commensurate with the cost of collection to have an inquiry of that sort.
The prevention of unauthorised camps comes about by a designation order if the local authorities provide the required number of sites. My hon. Friend's second point is covered by the Public Health Act, while the third is a matter not for me but for my right hon. and noble Friend the Lord Chancellor.