First ever gypsy and traveller conference for Warwickshire
A conference is taking place next week to draw upon local and national expertise in dealing with gypsy and traveller issues in Warwickshire.
Everything from the problems the police and local authorities face in handling unauthorised encampments, through to the day-to-day living concerns of the gypsy and traveller families will be discussed at the one day conference.
The conference is being organised by Warwickshire County Council and is to take place on Tuesday, April 24, at Coombe Abbey.
The idea for the conference came initially from a discussion between the county council, colleagues at the district and borough councils and Warwickshire Police about the challenges presented by a series of unauthorised encampments last year and the issues surrounding the gypsy and traveller families while in Warwickshire.
The conference will see politicians joined by the police, local authority workers and national experts in the field of gypsy and traveller work.
Issues including education, health, environmental health, housing and homelessness, legal, planning, police, policy and gypsy and traveller liaison officers will all be discussed.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “The main focus of the conference is on the issues surrounding unauthorised encampments, but we are setting it in context of promoting greater understanding within Warwickshire of the challenges and opportunities associated with gypsy and traveller issues.
“Hopefully by everyone coming together to talk through these issues, we can start to share our knowledge and look at ways of working together on these issues in the future.”
“We recognise that the often bitter conflict between travelling communities and the settled populations is not one that will be easy to bridge and continued resentment, fear and stereotyping will fuel conflicts that will test police, local authorities and of course, the various communities on all sides.”
Leader of Warwickshire County Council, Cllr Alan Farnell, said: “In the last couple of years alone we have witnessed at times, acute tensions emerge in community relations between gypsies and travellers and the settled community culminating in the Sun’s campaign to ‘Stamp on The Camps’. Such rhetoric, of course, is not helpful to a considered response to the need of any of the communities involved, but reflects the reality of the high tensions local authorities must work around.
“So how can misunderstandings and false stereotypes of gypsies and travellers be erased and will the new governmental policies meet the needs and aspirations of gypsies and travellers? These questions are at the root of this conference, which will seek to examine how we can move forward with the current government guidance.”