Gypsies, Travellers and accommodation

Gypsies and Travellers are one of the most marginalised, vulnerable and socially excluded populations in the UK today (CRE, 2006, p. 1). Of the diverse travelling communities in the UK, only Romany Gypsies and Irish Travellers are currently recognised in law as minority ethnic communities (Clark and Greenfields, 2006). Estimates of the size of the Gypsy and Traveller population (including Scottish Gypsy-Travellers, Welsh Gypsies and New Travellers) are problematic in the absence of ethnic monitoring, administrative statistics or their inclusion within census categories. In 2000, it was calculated that there were approximately 300,000 members of these communities in the UK (Morris and Clements, 2002). With a high rate of population increase, estimated at 3 per cent per annum (Niner, 2003), the community is growing and in need of appropriate accommodation to meet its requirements