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COUNTY LETTER MID-JUNE 1997
Since the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act (CJ & PO Act) in 1994 problems associated with travellers and gypsies have become much more obvious.
Before 1994 all authorities were governed by the 1968 Caravan's Sites & Control of Development Act which laid down guidelines on how to cope with travellers. Councils were encouraged to become "designated" and both Cambridgeshire County and East Cambridgeshire District responded. After a lot of pushing the Dept. of the Environment finally "designated" East Cambs. District Council as an authority with a good record of dealing sensibly with those travellers normally "resorting" to our district.
Since 1968 we had successfully settled around 120 travelling families in the District in places ranging from Bottisham to Burwell, Soham, Wilburton and Sutton. The advantage of designation was that by definition we were coping with our approx. 120-130 families and thus most of those travellers who suddenly appeared on unauthorised verges or small camping sites were not normally resorting to our district and therefore could reasonably be moved on as soon as possible. If they refused we were able to secure court orders within 3-4 weeks which led to their leaving. The mess they left behind was a real nuisance but dealt with by the East Cambs. District Council gang who deserve a lot of thanks for doing a miserable job.
All this changed with the passage of the 1994 CJ & PO Act. The obligation to achieve designation was dropped and severe penalties were imposed on anyone who camped on unauthorised road sites.
At the same time as the passage of the Act the Dept. of the Environment issued advice to local councils that they should consider tolerating~presence on their land for short periods and consider providing basic services, e.g. toilets, water and a rubbish skip. The advice also drew attention to the need for councils to follow the Children Act 1989 and Housing Act 1985 and provide education to all schoolage children and to check whether travellers may need or receive welfare help.
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