The first new Gypsy or Traveller site will be built in London in more than 30 years. The site in Catford, Lewisham, will provide seven pitches and is planned to open for Gypsy or Traveller council tenants in the summer of 2027.
“This is all thanks to the hard work of community members who attended meeting after meeting, year after year, and of council workers who diligently did the required tests, plans, policies and applications,” says Nancy Hawker, London Gypsies and Travellers’ (LGT’s) Policy and Research Officer. All planning permissions have been granted, the budget has been approved by Council Cabinet and the land acquired.
LGT staff have been supporting Lewisham’s Gypsy and Traveller families since 2005 when the Council announced plans for closing the Traveller site on Thurston Road to make way for a bus depot (pictured above). The Thurston Road site had originally comprised 16 pitches, and the Council then promised a new site for the displaced tenants.
Community activist Maggie Mongan told LGT: “I have been waiting for more than 15 years for a new site in Lewisham, so I am glad it is finally happening. This means a lot to me and my family. We have waited a long time for this and it is about time.”
There have been false starts, with the hopes of Maggie and other Lewisham residents raised only to be dashed. LGT’s community and policy experts supported the planning and public consultation for a proposed Traveller site in Ladywell, for which planning permission was granted in 2008, but the plan was abandoned after opposition from neighbouring residents. Archive information held by LGT shows that in 2009 Bernard Bourdillion, a volunteer researcher with the organisation, gave a presentation noting that the planning process was very slow and that 2015 was the earliest a new site would be developed in Lewisham. That prediction proved to be optimistic.
Finally, plans for a small site at Pool Court in Catford came to fruition after the May local elections. However, there is more to do. According to the local accommodation needs assessment, 23 pitches are required in Lewisham, so there continues to be a deficit of 16 pitches in the borough. Across London, approximately 2,000 Gypsy and Traveller households are in immediate need of culturally suitable accommodation.
“Congratulations to Lewisham for racing ahead of the pack of local authorities towards the winning post of delivering accommodation for some of London’s most excluded and deprived residents,” said Nancy Hawker. “We are now watching to see which local authorities come next. Our community members and our allies in the campaign to end homelessness are looking forward to a new era of site delivery.”
Pictured below: Lewisham Council’s plans for a new site at Pool Court, Catford.
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