£10m for traveller sites to reduce unauthorised encampments

New funding will allow councils to provide improved transit sites and stopping places so that travellers have authorised places to stay and access to facilities and services.

As part of the £10 million fund for new traveller sites, councils can also bid for funding for new permanent sites to meet the needs of travellers in their local areas, as well as using it to refurbish existing sites.

The fund will help improve travellers’ life chances, by giving them easier access to local services including healthcare, education, and employment. Providing more and better places to stay will also reduce tensions between travellers and the settled community, and the high costs of tackling unauthorised encampments.

The funding can be used for new sites; improve existing sites through both refurbishment and rebuild; improve site infrastructure; or pay for public spaces on existing sites, such as community centres, play areas for children and stabling for horses.

By building more sites and temporary stopping places, it also aims to reduce the number of unauthorised encampments in England; reduce enforcement costs for councils; assist councils and local police in redirecting travellers from unauthorised encampments, and therefore enhance community cohesion between the settled community and travellers.

Communities Minister Kemi Badenoch said: “It’s vital that everyone has access to the kind of services that offer the best support. So, these new and improved sites will give travellers easier routes to healthcare, education, and employment. This funding is just one of the ways the government is improving opportunities for communities across the country.”