Unfortunately many news outlets have got themselves into a bit of a pickle with confusing and conflicting reports, you can view the original press release from the communities.gov site called "Time for a fair deal for the travelling and settled community" you can also view a PDF Version
In a nutshell these proposals will NOT impact North Tyneside Councils proposals for traveller sites in the Core Strategy preferred options. This is because the requirement to provide the North Tyneside traveller site arises from the Housing Act (2004), 2009 GTAA and the Local Government Act (2003)
The new Secretary of State for Communities Eric Pickles wrote to all local planning authorities on 27th May 2010 confirming these changes and intentions to abolish regional strategies. In the letter Mr Pickles confirmed it would be announced formally soon, saying "decisions on housing supply (including the provision of traveller sites) will rest with Local Planning Authorities" The Council should have been aware of these changes before the CSPO was put out for public consultation on the 9th July 2010.
The requirement for North Tyneside Council to carry out an accommodation needs assessment of gypsy and travellers arises from the Housing Act (2004) s.225 Duties of local housing authorities: accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers. The council did this with it's 2009 GTAA (Gypsy & Traveller Accommodation Assessment) which identified that North Tyneside needed 9 pitches for Gypsies and Travellers. The Local Government Act 2003 s.87 requires that North Tyneside Council prepare a strategy in respect of the meeting of such accommodation needs.
The Guidance the communities secretary proposes to replace with "light touch" guidance outlining councils' statutory obligations is actually the optional guidance covered by s.226 of the Housing Act (2004) 226. Guidance in relation to section 225. This optional guidance is to local housing authorities on how they should carry out assessments, prepare the strategies required by s.225 of the Housing Act or take the strategy into account exercising "their functions"
Essentially the complaint councils' had with ODPM Circular 01/2006 was that councils' were required to consider if refusing a planning application (such as a retrospective planning application) for a traveller site could create issues with enforcement action (evictions) and planning appeals if there was no existing gypsy/traveller site provision ODPM Circular 01/2006 (section 63)
Councils were unhappy because they were sometimes compelled to grant planning permission in circumstances where they might normally refuse it - hence, Mr Pickles proposals for an equal footing.
The report in the News Guardian was that "he (Mr Pickles) wants to redress the balance and take communities' feelings into account". [view here]. However, this report is somewhat inaccurate, what was actually said was "We want to redress the balance and put fairness back into communities." [see original press release]
The Gypsy & Traveller search areas are part of the Core Strategy for until at least 2025 (and likey will be carried over to future Development Plans). If the present Government scraps requirements for Traveller sites (and it has not actually proposed to do this) and a future Government chooses to reintroduce the G&T requirement, then the search areas in the core strategy is where they will look to build.
Essentially what North Tyneside Council is saying is that if they have to build a Gypsy and Travellers' site between now and 2025 it will be built somewhere in the Core Strategy Search Area. But don't worry because we probably won't need one !
If they don't need a site, why are they looking for somewhere to build it. The answer to this is simple, if a Gypsy or Traveller site has to be built the powers that be prefer it not to be built near them...
