Gypsy and Traveller local plan review
Information about how we will ensure accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in Islington are met as part of the Islington Local Plan though a focused review.
The Islington Local Plan sets out a vision and framework to guide how we manage future development in the borough to ensure housing, employment and other needs are met. As part of the Local Plan, we are required to make sure that the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in Islington are met. Islington's latest Local Plan was adopted in September 2023 and sets out the requirement for the immediate focused review of the policy for Gypsy and Travellers.
Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan review process
The Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan Review started in March 2024 with the public consultation on the Scope of the Review paper, which provided an opportunity to provide residents' initial views on the issue.
The consultation ended on 26 April 2024 and feedback will be considered as part of the preparation of the plan. There will be more opportunities to provide comments and feedback at key stages of the Local Plan review process set out below.
Why the review is needed
There are currently no sites with pitches for caravans in Islington. For some Gypsy and Traveller families and households who live in the borough, living in a caravan is an essential part of their ethnic identity and social and cultural heritage, and conventional housing is unsuitable.
A study carried out by us in 2019 to inform the adopted Local Plan identified that we need 10 permanent residential Gypsy and Traveller pitches to meet the needs of people from Gypsy and Traveller communities currently living in conventional housing in the borough.
A London-wide Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Needs Assessment will be available in 2024. This piece of evidence will provide further updated evidence for the number of pitches in the borough.
Next steps
Our provisional timetable is:
- summer to early autumn 2024 - call for sites and draft site search criteria and site assessment process
- autumn 2024 - consultation on the initial draft plan and potential sites
- spring 2025 - final consultation on draft Gypsy and Traveller Local Plan
- summer 2025 - submission for Independent Examination by Planning Inspectors.
Adoption timescale will depend on the outcome of Independent Examination.