Home > yourrights > rights of gypsies and travellers/Enforcement of Planning Control > Enforcement of Planning Control
> Direct Action
Direct Action
Section 178 of the TCPA 1990 provides (where relevant) that:
‘(1) Where any steps required by an enforcement notice to be taken are not taken within
the period for compliance with the notice, the local planning authority may -
(a) enter the land and take the steps; and
(b) recover from the person who is then the owner of the land any expenses reasonably incurred by them in doing so.’
Direct action is a drastic step to take and local authorities should use their power to take such enforcement action reasonably and should only do so having given careful consideration to the personal circumstances of those who will be affected by such action and having taken account of all relevant Government planning policy: see R (Mitchell and Hearne) v Horsham District Council.
In the cases of R (O’Brien) v Basildon DC and R (Lisa Smith) v South Norfolk Council the Court rejected the suggestion made that it could never be appropriate to take direct action to evict Gypsies and Travellers from land that they own and are using as a residential caravan site.
Duty to promote race equality
LPAs have a duty to eliminate discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations – a ‘general race equality duty’: see section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976. The key to promoting equality of opportunity for Gypsies and Travellers lies in the provision of suitable sites to cater for their needs. If a Gypsy or Traveller family is granted planning permission for a suitable site then the family will be able to continue to access all the services that other members of the community currently enjoy. A refusal of planning permission is likely to put the family on the ‘road to nowhere’ – where they will have to camp on unauthorised sites and face a life subject to continual eviction – a life that would lead them into further conflict with residents within the settled community in the area and cause them untold misery.
In an ongoing case involving Irish Travellers living in caravans on their own land in Basildon, the Administrative Court will have to decide whether the Council’s decision to use direct action to evict the Travellers breached its general race equality duty: see R (McCarthy) v Basildon DC.
‘(1) Where any steps required by an enforcement notice to be taken are not taken within
the period for compliance with the notice, the local planning authority may -
(a) enter the land and take the steps; and
(b) recover from the person who is then the owner of the land any expenses reasonably incurred by them in doing so.’
Direct action is a drastic step to take and local authorities should use their power to take such enforcement action reasonably and should only do so having given careful consideration to the personal circumstances of those who will be affected by such action and having taken account of all relevant Government planning policy: see R (Mitchell and Hearne) v Horsham District Council.
In the cases of R (O’Brien) v Basildon DC and R (Lisa Smith) v South Norfolk Council the Court rejected the suggestion made that it could never be appropriate to take direct action to evict Gypsies and Travellers from land that they own and are using as a residential caravan site.
Duty to promote race equality
LPAs have a duty to eliminate discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and good race relations – a ‘general race equality duty’: see section 71 of the Race Relations Act 1976. The key to promoting equality of opportunity for Gypsies and Travellers lies in the provision of suitable sites to cater for their needs. If a Gypsy or Traveller family is granted planning permission for a suitable site then the family will be able to continue to access all the services that other members of the community currently enjoy. A refusal of planning permission is likely to put the family on the ‘road to nowhere’ – where they will have to camp on unauthorised sites and face a life subject to continual eviction – a life that would lead them into further conflict with residents within the settled community in the area and cause them untold misery.
In an ongoing case involving Irish Travellers living in caravans on their own land in Basildon, the Administrative Court will have to decide whether the Council’s decision to use direct action to evict the Travellers breached its general race equality duty: see R (McCarthy) v Basildon DC.
