Four Houses Corner Traveller Housing Site

What is Four Houses Corner?

Four Houses Corner (FHC) has a long-established use as a formal traveller site, an area reserved to address and meet the accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers.

Why is it there?

The council has a statutory duty to provide traveller accommodation where there is an identified need.

Why was it closed?

FHC has been closed for some time to allow an extensive refurbishment project to the properties there.

What kind of accommodation does the site provide?

The site was last redeveloped with built dayroom accommodation for eighteen pitches in 1981. Current proposals cater for seventeen pitches. The level of accommodation provided is standard to permanent traveller sites and follows previous government guidelines for best practice in the provision of permanent traveller site accommodation.

What happens if the council doesn't reopen the site?

The former residents of FHC have a legal right under their existing and continuing individual Mobile Homes Agreements to return to the location.

If the council had taken the decision not to reopen FHC, it would have been obliged to find other land to provide traveller accommodation. Purchase of such land would have been extremely difficult and expensive. This would have been a significant additional cost which has been avoided by reopening the current site.

Why does it  have to be this particular site?

A new site, if it could be secured, would need to go through Planning and meet new traveller site requirements under current legislation, including better integration within the local community. Current planning does not favour isolated sites which potentially increase traveller isolation from society.

The former residents not only have a legal right to return to Four Houses Corner, they also have a legal legitimate expectation to return to a site providing both caravan pitches and dayroom accommodation as existed previously.

A new site could not be secured by compulsory purchase because the council could not demonstrate it had no ability to secure land by other means since it chose to abandon the current traveller site which was fit for purpose.

When will it reopen?

The council is required [by law] to provide a site for traveller accommodation if there is a proven pre-existing need (which is the case for FHC). We plan to start the process of moving people back to the site as soon as we can.

Who will manage the refurbished site?

The site will be managed by an external organisation specialising in the management of traveller sites. This cost of this is comparable to the full-time employment of appropriately experienced staff were the council to manage the site 'in house'.

What if some people don't want to go back?

If any of the former Four Houses Corner residents choose not to return to the site, they do not acquire housing accommodation qualifications and would have to join a public housing waiting list.

There's security at the site even though it's empty. Why?

The need for on-going physical site security is to prevent unauthorised occupation of the site by anyone other than the former residents of FHC to who the council has a duty of care.