Welsh Government's travellers strategy

Advice on better accommodation, health and education for Gypsies and travellers is at the heart of a new Welsh Government strategy.Equalities Minister Jane Hutt says the document, to be published on Thursday, is the first of its kind in the UK.A survey found there were almost 800 Gypsy and traveller caravans in Wales.A liaison worker with Gypsies in north Wales said the number of sites had not kept up with the "significant" growth in the population.Gypsies and travellers have been consulted in drawing up the new strategy.Statistics published by the Welsh Government on Wednesday said there were 793 caravans on 78 sites in 21 of Wales' 22 councils. About 15% were on unauthorised sites.Bethan Wyn Jones, a Gypsy and traveller liaison officer for Gwynedd Council, said a shortage of permanent and transit sites made unauthorised camping "inevitable".She said: "The community of Gypsies and travellers in Wales has grown significantly in recent years, whereas the provision of sites to meet the accommodation needs of those communities has not developed in line with the population growth."I understand there are issues in terms of nimby-ism, but I think that we also need to address the fact that some unauthorised camping will inevitably continue while there is a shortage of permanent and transit sites available for travelling communities in Wales."She said many travellers had settled, initially to ensure health and education for their children.She said the Welsh Government was looking for a "more cohesive approach" throughout Wales."In our modern society, I don't believe there's any need for anybody to be forced to be camping without authority on any patch of ground," she added.Travelling and settled communities had a role "to learn from one another in terms of learning about cultures, values and celebrating the differences that we have living in a cohesive society", she said.Issues around travellers are in the spotlight with the attempts being made to evict hundreds of people from a site at Dale Farm in Basildon, Essex, following a 10-year legal and planning dispute.Reverend Aled Edwards, chair of the Wales Strategic Migration Partnership, is an expert on traveller communities.He called for a greater understanding between different social groups, particularly in light of recent events at Dale Farm.Mr Edwards said Wales' approach was "pioneering"."There are issues of stereotyping and reactions to this community who experience a degree of discrimination, sometimes antagonism, sometimes violence."We have to see what is in the document being published today, but I think it's a good step forward, particularly when you look over the border at other parts of the UK where they haven't been quite as pioneering in developing such schemes."It's better that we have a strategy like this where the government talks to a lot of key partners like ourselves to manage the situation, reflect on it and get people to have a conversation with each other, so the sort of community tension that we found at Dale Farm isn't replicated here."Kate Bennett, national director of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Wales, said the strategy needed to address the practical problems many travellers face."What Gypsy travellers told us in our research was they felt misunderstood and that public services did not cater for them."If we can improve their access to health, education and employment, that would help with a huge issue."If you lead more Gyspy travellers into contact with the vast majority of the population, that will help with integration."The Welsh Government established a programme to refurbish existing traveller sites in 2007 and extended it in 2009 to develop new sites.It announced £2m to fund work on sites earlier this year. In total, 25 grants have been awarded over four years to 11 local authoritiesGuidance in 2007 directed councils to find caravan sites for Gypsies and travellers.The advice aimed to open up how sites are identified and engage traveller communities with the planning system. From / BBC