These are called Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessments (GTAAs). GTAAs may be used to inform the preparation of policy and site allocations for Gypsies and Travellers at Housing Market Area (HMA) or local plan level.
In accordance with the NPPF and the Duty to co-operate set out in the Localism Act 2011, a GTAA covering Derbyshire and East Staffordshire was jointly commissioned in November 2019 by the following partners, updating the previous one published in 2015:
- Derbyshire County, Derby City and 7 district and borough councils in Derbyshire
- Peak District National Park Authority
- East Staffordshire Borough Council
- The Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group
RRR Consultancy Limited completed a final version of the GTAA, and provided it to partners in July 2023. The methodology applied in the GTAA is based on the approach recommended in PPTS and other best practice, and uses a 15-stage assessment process. The report draws on primary and secondary data sources including:
- primary data: face-to-face surveys with Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople
- secondary information: including a literature review and secondary data analysis, for example, analysis of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government's Bi-Annual Traveller Caravan Count
- stakeholder consultation with local organisations involved with Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople
The GTAA has a base date of 2020 and provides a snapshot in time based largely on survey evidence collected in 2022. It also represents a piece of evidence, which provides a starting point for considering pitch and plot requirements for Gypsies, Travellers and Travelling Showpeople in the study area for the period 2020 to 2040. This is a similar approach to the assessment of future needs for market and affordable housing, set out in the NPPF and National Planning Practice Guidance (NPPG).
Partners will be able to use the GTAA to guide pitch and plot requirements in their administrative areas. They can also use it as the basis for further bespoke studies of their own, supplemented by other local survey and monitoring evidence, to provide a more locally specific indication of need. It is also recognised by the commissioning partners that such findings drawn primarily from snapshot data may be reviewed by individual local planning authorities over time.
The GTAA does not identify specific sites to accommodate future pitch and plot requirements in the study area. This will be the responsibility of the individual local planning authorities (city, district, borough, and Peak District National Park Authority) through the preparation and review of their local plans.
The GTAA is attached to this page, as well as the 2015 version. The GTAA sets out recommendations for accommodation needs across the study area as a whole and for each local planning authority area for the period 2020 to 2040, showing need for the number of:
- permanent Gypsy and Traveller pitches
- Travelling Showpeople plots
- transit sites and negotiated stopping places (study area only)
- bricks and mortar accommodation units
- boat dweller moorings
Study partners
- Amber Valley Borough Council
- Bolsover District Council
- Chesterfield Borough Council
- Derby City Council
- Derbyshire County Council
- Derbyshire Dales District Council
- Derbyshire Gypsy Liaison Group
- East Staffordshire Borough Council
- High Peak Borough Council
- North East Derbyshire District Council
- Peak District National Park Authority
- South Derbyshire District Council
For further information, please email planningpolicy@derbyshire.gov.uk or during normal office hours Call Derbyshire, telephone: 01629 533190.