Angela Rayner opens door to more traveller sites near you as councils lose power to stop encampments
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has sparked fears of a surge in traveller sites across England by softening planning rules to remove powers from local councils.
Ms Rayner, who unveiled the changes on Monday, made it harder for both residents and councils to oppose applications for retrospective permission for illegal camps.
The new guidance removes requirements for councils to consider "potential environmental damage" and "provide a settled base that limits the need for long-distance travelling" when assessing applications.
It is likely the changes will make it easier to set up new traveller sites, with officials admitting the new policy “may also mean that locations not well-related to existing settlements may be appropriate”.
However, there has already been a 73 per cent rise in the number of unauthorised traveller caravans across England since January 2020, with the number increasing from 2,860 to 4,950.
Ministers are expected to publish specific guidance on applications for traveller sites in "due course".
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Conservatives pledge 'crackdown on illegal traveller sites' by leaving ECHR
The Conservative Party has pledged to launch a "crackdown on illegal traveller sites".
The party said that by leaving the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and scrapping the Human Rights Act police would be empowered to ban travellers from encampments.
The Conservatives argued communities were being "forced to tolerate illegal encampments and breaches of planning laws" and "antisocial behaviour and petty crime, by a small minority of travellers".
House of Commons research commissioned by the party revealed that in the two years to January 2026, the number of caravans on unauthorised sites rose by 1,080 across England.
MAPPED: The five traveller hotspots where unauthorised caravans have staged 'military operation' takeovers
The number of traveller sites has skyrocketed as locals continue fear their village could be next in line to fall victim to a "land grab".
Led by caravans, bulldozers and a lack of council action, towns across Kent, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire have been targeted.
The unauthorised developments, in turn, have triggered frenzied legal battles as well as wider local furore, while residents have been left feeling helpless at the lack of support from officials.
In January, the number of traveller caravans lacking planning permission across England was 4,950, marking a staggering 73 per cent jump on 2020's figure of 2,860.
Angela Rayner opens door to more traveller sites near you as councils lose power to stop encampments
Housing Secretary Angela Rayner has sparked fears of a surge in traveller sites across England by softening planning rules to remove powers from local councils.
Ms Rayner, who unveiled the changes on Monday, made it harder for both residents and councils to oppose applications for retrospective permission for illegal camps.
The new guidance removes requirements for councils to consider "potential environmental damage" and "provide a settled base that limits the need for long-distance travelling" when assessing applications.
It is likely the changes will make it easier to set up new traveller sites, with officials admitting the new policy “may also mean that locations not well-related to existing settlements may be appropriate”.
However, there has already been a 73 per cent rise in the number of unauthorised traveller caravans across England since January 2020, with the number increasing from 2,860 to 4,950.
Ministers are expected to publish specific guidance on applications for traveller sites in "due course".
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