§ Mr. MaddenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment what numbers of gipsies residing in, or resorting to(a) Hertfordshire and (b) Surrey have been recorded in each of the last 10 years; and what provision each authority has made, to date, over the last 10 years.
§ Mr. Chope[holding answer 23 February 1990]: According to local authority returns to the Department's biannual counts exercise (begun in 1980), the following numbers of gipsy caravans have been recorded in these two counties: 187W
Surrey gipsy caravans Unauthorised Authorised (local authority) Private (authorised) Total January 1980 179 146 83 408 July 1980 152 150 64 366 January 1981 207 155 77 439 July 1981 149 160 62 371 January 1982 154 175 98 427 July 1982 202 188 60 450 January 1983 169 207 76 452 July 1983 144 191 76 411 January 1984 161 217 102 480 July 1984 137 208 75 420 January 1985 138 197 97 432 July 1985 142 190 76 408 January 1986 162 224 89 475 July 1986 204 195 77 476 January 1987 146 256 85 487 July 1987 201 237 89 527 January 1988 191 276 94 561 July 1988 236 252 89 577 January 1989 166 265 99 530 July 1989 203 253 91 547 Hertfordshire has provided accommodation for 203 gipsy caravans on 148 pitches on nine local authority sites; of which 48 pitches on four sites have been provided since 1980.
Surrey has provided accommodation for 253 gipsy caravans on 204 pitches on 15 local authority sites; of which 100 pitches on eight sites have been provided since 1980.
The Department does not maintain records on private sites in these areas, the extent of which provision is revealed by the Department's biannual count returns.