Birmingham council slammed for lack of provision for travellers after site left 'uninhabitable'

Birmingham City Council has come under fire for its lack of transit sites for travellers after its main one was rendered “uninhabitable” due to recent damage. The site in Proctor Street, Aston, has space for 12 caravans but was previously closed in January 2023 following “significant damage and vandalism”.

It only returned to use earlier this year in May - but councillors have now been told that the site has been forced to close again because of more damage. “In July 2024 the site was rendered uninhabitable due to damage/destruction to the welfare unit and the water supply,” a recently-published council report revealed.

“Officers from Housing Management are working with Acivico to arrange the necessary repairs". However, it is currently closed due to the lack of basic sanitary provision and potable water.

READ MORE: Temporary traveller sites plan for Birmingham could be introduced within months

Transit sites are authorised areas where members of the travelling community can be directed to when in the city. They typically provide hard standing for holding caravans, a secure boundary and basic sanitary provision while some also provide electricity.

Reacting to the closure of the Proctor Street site in a committee meeting today, Green Party councillor Julien Pritchard said: “I note the council’s one transit site is again out of action. We’re back to the situation where there’s no working transit site or any accommodation for travelling communities in the entire city, which is not acceptable.”

Highlighting this lack of provision, the report said planning consent has been granted for a second location at Aston Brook Street East, Aston, with space for four caravans. “At the present time, Aston Brook Street East is not being pursued as a viable option due to the costs required to bring the site into operational use versus the number of viable pitches achievable,” it continued however.

“This site is instead being scheduled for disposal".

Another site in Tameside Drive, Castle Vale, has been home to long-term occupants who had “indicated a willingness to sign occupancy agreements". But the report said it is not currently viable as a transit site due to the length of time it has been inaccessible to the council and the likely costs of bringing the site into use “in line with current legislative requirements”.

The city council has therefore been recommended to adopt a ‘negotiated stopping policy’. This is when a common agreement is made between those in the travelling community and the local authority to use an unused piece of land as a temporary stopping place.

“Until [the Proctor Street site] opens, or negotiated stopping starts, there’s basically no provision,” Coun Pritchard continued during the meeting. “So what’s the plan for the meantime?”

Another frustrated councillor was Barbara Dring, who said the issue over provision for the travelling community needed to be sorted out “once and for all”. “Nobody wants this in their backyard,” she said.

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“We’re all going to be watching on our patches where they’re going to go. This community has got to be accommodated.

“The inequalities they suffer as a result of being travellers is just not acceptable in this day and age.”

Negotiated stopping could be launched in Birmingham for a trial period of at least 12 months starting in spring 2025. The meeting heard that the plan in the meantime would be for the council to continue working with West Midlands Police to follow a strategy that’s been previously employed to manage unauthorised encampments.

It also heard that repairs for Proctor Street could be completed by November and that an initial list of potential sites for negotiated stopping could be shared with councillors in February. Coun Maureen Cornish requested that any agreement on such sites “should be in full consultation with the local ward councillors”.

The report stated that negotiated stopping was “favoured by gypsy and traveller communities and local authorities alike as a balanced and humane approach to managing roadside camp”. “It also helps to direct communities away from contentious public spaces to more appropriate council land for a temporary period,” it said, adding that it has had success elsewhere too.