The Housing (Assessment of Accommodation Needs) (Meaning of Gypsies and Travellers) (England) Regulations 2006

Statutory Instruments

2006 No. 3190

Housing, England

The Housing (Assessment of Accommodation Needs) (Meaning of Gypsies and Travellers) (England) Regulations 2006

Made

27th November 2006

Laid before Parliament

5th December 2006

Coming into force

2nd January 2007

The Secretary of State in exercise of the powers conferred by section 225(5)(a) of the Housing Act 2004(1), makes the following Regulations:

Citation, commencement and application

1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Housing (Assessment of Accommodation Needs) (Meaning of Gypsies and Travellers) (England) Regulations 2006 and shall come into force on 2nd January 2007.

(2) These Regulations apply where a local housing authority in England undertakes a review of housing needs in their district under section 8 of the Housing Act 1985.

Meaning of Gypsies and Travellers for the Purposes of Section 225 of the Housing Act 2004

2.  For the purposes of section 225 of the Housing Act 2004 (duties of local housing authorities: accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers) “gypsies and travellers” means—

(a) persons with a cultural tradition of nomadism or of living in a caravan; and

(b) all other persons of a nomadic habit of life, whatever their race or origin, including—

(i) such persons who, on grounds only of their own or their family’s or dependant’s educational or health needs or old age, have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently; and

(ii) members of an organised group of travelling showpeople or circus people (whether or not travelling together as such).

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

for Communities and Local Government

Meg Munn

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State

Department for Communities and Local Government

27th November 2006

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

Section 225 of the Housing Act 2004 imposes a duty on local housing authorities to carry out an assessment of the accommodation needs of gypsies and travellers residing in or resorting to their district, when undertaking a review of housing needs in their district under section 8 of the Housing Act 1985.

These Regulations define “gypsies and travellers” for the purposes of that duty in relation to England.

A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared in connection with these Regulations. A copy can be obtained from www.communities.gov.uk or from the Department for Communities and Local Government, Gypsy and Traveller Unit, Zone 1/E8, Eland House, Bressenden Place, London, SW1E 5DU (Tel; 020 7944 3565).

(1)

2004 c.34. The powers conferred by section 225(5)(a) are exercisable, as respects England, by the Secretary of State and, as respects Wales, by the National Assembly for Wales. See the definition of the appropriate national authority in section 261(1) of the Housing Act 2004.