News & events

Updates, information and news from London Gypsies and Travellers

Latest news

New ruling puts an end to wide injunctions

May 12, 2021

A judgment published today harshly criticises the use of wide injunctions as a blanket ban against Gypsies and Travellers who have nowhere to stop. Wide injunctions against “persons unknown” have been used by local authorities for the past six years to prevent Gypsies and Travellers from stopping on public land, despite councils not making any …

A Mayor for All Londoners?

April 22, 2021

In advance of the elections for Mayor of London and London Assembly on 6th May, London Gypsies and Travellers organised a hustings event focused on the needs and asks of Gypsies and Travellers across the capital. The event took place online on 23rd March and can be watched in full here. Candidates from the Green …

New London Plan finally adopted

March 17, 2021

The London Plan 2021 was published on 2nd March 2021, setting policies for how London will develop over the next 10 years. In February 2019, Gypsies and Travellers spoke up for housing rights at the Plan’s examination hearing. The Plan includes a policy on Gypsy and Traveller accommodation which requires London Boroughs to meet need …

New Bill threatens nomadic way of life

March 15, 2021

A broad group of over 200 organisations supporting human rights have sent a letter today to the Home Secretary and Secretary of State for Justice to express profound concerns about the new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill published on 9th March. LGT is one of the co-signatories of the letter which highlights the devastating …

Achievements in a unique year

February 9, 2021

Members of the Gypsy and Traveller community joined staff and trustees online for the LGT Annual General Meeting last week, to hear about a unique year for the organisation and the community in London. Presentations at the Zoom event, also streamed live on Facebook, described how COVID-19 had affected Gypsies and Travellers, and how LGT …

Injunctions under review

December 16, 2020

On Thursday 17th December 2020, a major case management hearing will take place ahead of an upcoming High Court case on anti-Traveller wide injunctions, due to be held in January 2021. Since 2015, councils have increasingly used injunctions to prevent Gypsies and Travellers from stopping on council-owned land. The majority of people who pull up …

New challenge to government planning rules

November 26, 2020

A court hearing on 10th and 11th December could determine that the government’s planning definition of Gypsies and Travellers is unlawful. The current planning definition, adopted in 2015, means that Gypsies and Travellers who have permanently stopped travelling in a caravan for work do not have their accommodation needs counted and struggle to get planning …

National Lottery funds new ‘Roadside Futures’ project

October 28, 2020

‘Roadside Futures’ project to improve lives of roadside Gypsies and Travellers across the UK, thanks to National Lottery funding Today, £2million in National Lottery funding has been awarded to ‘Roadside Futures’ which is a project that aims to improve the quality of life for nomadic Gypsies and Travellers and the communities in which they live …

A possible end to wide injunctions?

October 23, 2020

All councils that have taken out “wide injunctions” preventing Gypsies and Travellers from camping on open land may have to withdraw them if a new High Court hearing – due in the New Year – goes against them. This new hearing, centering around Enfield Council, follows a landmark legal ruling in early 2020 saying that …

Enfield council withdraws injunction application

October 2, 2020

In the wake of the successful Court of Appeal challenge to London councils’ “wide injunctions” preventing camping on open land, London Gypsies and Travellers’ work continues to bring individual councils round to a more humane approach. Ilinca Diaconescu, LGT’s Policy and Campaigns Coordinator, provides an update on important developments in Enfield. At a High Court …