Harrogate Borough Council

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17 October 2008 -  ALL councils have a duty to carry out housing survey needs to make sure that they can meet demand.  The Government has now added to this duty by asking councils to carry out research to gather information about the needs of the gypsy and travelling community.

 

With the agreement of the Government Office in the Yorkshire and Humber Region, all councils across North Yorkshire have worked together to carry out this research so that a sub regional approach can be taken.

 

Following extensive consultation with local travelling communities to find out their views on their current available accommodation and their future needs, the findings have now been produced.

 

The research showed that, whilst there is good provision in certain areas of the county, more work would be needed to meet current and future demand for both permanent and transit sites.

 

Councillor Jean Butterfield, who chairs the North Yorkshire Strategic Housing Board thanked everyone involved for the amount of work that has been carried out, particularly with the support of the local travelling community.  She said: "Now that we have this amount of data available, it will help those who have identified a need in their area to develop a local strategy which will link into the county-wide strategy.  This work has also resulted in stronger communication between the travelling community and providers of public services and we hope that we can all build on that for the future." 

ENDS

 

NOTE TO EDITORS:  The North Yorkshire Strategic Housing Board is made up of representatives from North Yorkshire County Council, City of York Council, Harrogate and Scarborough Borough Councils and Craven, Hambleton, Ryedale and Selby District Councils