HC Deb 13 November 1974 vol 881 cc397-9
13. Mr. Newens

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will seek powers to ensure that gipsies and other caravan dwellers are not evicted from areas in which local authorities refuse to make any provision for this category of citizens.

Mr. Oakes

No, Sir. But I cannot emphasise too strongly that authorities which evict gipses without finding other sites for them are simply aggravating the problems created by unauthorised encampments for the community as a whole, besides causing unnecessary hardship to the gipsies themselves.

Mr. Newens

Does my hon. Friend accept that it is totally inhuman to evict people when they have nowhere to go? Does he accept that such action creates problems of overcrowding in areas in which authorities take a more enlightened line and understandably objections from residents? Will my hon. Friend take it from me that procrastination is no substitute for action on this issue? We have a duty to see that these people who have long been denied their rights of citizenship are no longer discriminated against.

Mr. Oakes

I appreciate that my hon. Friend's local authority is a good example of a good authority providing sites. I remind him that there is a duty to provide accommodation for gipsies. That is already mandatory. Outside London that duty falls on the county councils. I hope that the authorities will carry out their stautory duties under the Act.

Mr. Stanbrook

Is the Minister aware that the Caravan Sites Act has completely failed to solve the problem of unlawful gipsy camping and that a more efficacious and humane solution lies in the direction of registration of gipsy caravans plus licensing to use municipal sites?

Mr. Oakes

The hon. Gentleman has made an interesting suggestion. We now have a gipsy advisory officer and I will draw the hon. Gentleman's points to his attention.

Mr. Roderick

Does my hon. Friend propose legislating to provide more security for mobile home residents and to release so many of them from the tyranny that they now suffer from many landlords?

Mr. Oakes

I understand that my hon. Friend the Miniser for Housing and Construction is investigating the matter. That is a different issue from that arising from gipsies.

Mr. Farr

Does the Minister recognise that whatever may transpire from his gipsy officer it is essential that the Government recognise that the law now depends upon the Caravan Sites Act? There are county councils which are defaulting. As a result they place an intolerable and unfair burden on adjacent authorities. It is the Minister's job to act and to lean on the county councils which are defaulting. Will he do so?

Mr. Oakes

We are doing that. Although it was treated with some mirth, one of the principal tasks of the advisory officer will be to give advice to county councils and to point out to them the need in their areas and the help that they can give to other county councils that are providing sites and whose sites are overcrowded.