It's only 9 Pitches, so that's 9 Caravan's, surely not much space is needed? Right? ...Not quite, it's little known fact that a single "pitch" on a transit site is designed to take two caravans and two cars - each pitch requires more land than an average semi-detached house. The land North Tyneside need for the site is 0.18 hectare or just under half an acre (19,375 square feet or 1,800 square metres)

According to the "Designing Gypsy and Traveller Sites: Good Practice Guide (GLG, 2008)" "It is important to ensure that wherever possible each pitch is of a size sufficient to accommodate two touring caravans, two parking spaces and private amenities... ...It has been found that the majority of Gypsies and Travellers prefer private amenities on each pitch including a toilet, wash basin and shower with hot and cold water supply." (read more)

The diagram on the left shows a typical Gypsy/Traveller site plan (taken from the Good Practice Guide) it shows two caravans and two cars per pitch, a semi-detached amenity building comprising day room, storage room, kitchen, bath, shower and toilet facilities along with a communal childrens play area. Each pitch has water, drainage and mains electricity. Darlington Borough Council spent £489,000.00 developing a similar sized site at Honeypot Lane. (read more)

At other Gypsy/Traveller sites more than two caravans have been squeezed on to a single pitch. In one case, at Smithy Fen in Cambridgeshire, eight caravans were moved on to just two pitches. (read more)

What North Tyneside Council is telling residents

North Tyneside have been telling concerned residents that Holystone Action Group are making up the fact that the travellers site could be designed for 18 caravans and towing vehicles. They're saying its not true and we're just scaremongering, well here are the facts so you can decide for yourself:

• North Tyneside Councils requirement for a 9 pitch travellers site comes from the Tyne and Wear 2009 GTAA (Gypsy and Travellers Accommodation Assessment).
  
  
• The GTAA shows a requirement of 9 pitches (rounded up the nearest whole pitch). The GTAA does not determine the number of caravans needed it only determines the number of pitches.
  
  
• Because of the size of traveller "households", (see section 7.8 of the Government Designing Gypsy and Traveller Sites, Good Practice Guide) the Guide covers the various size constraints for a single pitch. This includes considerations such as allowing for pitches to accommodate an additional two smaller caravans (section 7.9)
  
  
• Section 7.12 of the Good Practice Guide, as a general rule specifies that "an average family pitch must be capable of accommodating an amenity building, a large trailer and touring caravan, (or two trailers, drying space for clothes, a lockable shed (for bicycles, wheelchair storage etc), parking space for two vehicles and a small garden area."
  
  
• Section 8.12 of the Good Practice Guide specifies that a transit pitch must have space for at least two vehicles.
  
  
• Annex B3 (Page 62) of the Good Practice Guide illustrates the layout for a small scale site in an urban location.
  
  
• Section 1.6 of the guide says that councils will be assessed on meeting the guidance from the Good Practice Guide before they can get the money (*Note 1); ergo, do it like the guide says or no grant and North Tyneside pays for it themselves.
  
  

If North Tyneside Council have told you, as they have told other residents, that it definitely won't mean more than 9 caravans, they are lying. But yes, North Tyneside are (in a way) correct in telling people it doesn't necessarily mean 18 caravans but no more so than if they told people that there could be no caravans at all.

Like most, if a car park was being proposed, I would like to hear how big it's going to be - when if comes to developments size matters. Using the car park analogy, I'd want to know if it was 900 cars or 1,800 cars - 900 twin-car-family-parking spaces doesn't actually cut it.

**Note 1: The government funds for the travellers site have apparently now been withdrawn (see Killingworth Ward Labour Councillor Linda Darke's "North Tynesider Newsletter"), where she says "...the A19 corridor or Sandy Lane/Salters Road they are looking for a 9 berth traveller’s site. This is at the insistence of the Mayor, despite the Government taking away the grant to help towards such a facility in the borough. When the travellers were consulted they said that they mainly use North Tyneside as a through road.". The question now, is where will the funds come from to build this est. £500,000.00 site now the grant has gone...

View the Holystone Action Group
Core Strategy Objections document (PDF), this document was compiled from residents responses and submitted as part of the CSPO consultation.

If you want to support the Holystone Action Group's campaign against the North Tyneside Council core strategy preferred options or you need more information, please contact hagsaysno@gmail.com