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Key contacts

Environment

Telephone: 0845 603 7624

0845 calls to Essex County Council are charged at BT landline standard rate. Please check with your provider as other tariffs may vary.

Information for communities

Local authorities have a duty to promote good community relations between settled communities and the Gypsy/Traveller communities. Sometimes tensions arise because of legitimate local concerns or, alternatively, the influence of inaccurate information. The first course of action for either community should be to contact the local authority. 

Permanent sites

Essex County Council Gypsy and Traveller Services manages the county's 11 permanent Gypsy/Traveller sites, providing permanent authorised accommodation for the community. However, places on permanent sites are limited.
 

Unauthorised sites are either:

  • Encampments, where the Gypsies/Travellers are resident on land they do not own, and without the owner's permission
  • Unauthorised developments, where the Gypsies/Travellers own the land but do not have the necessary planning permission to reside on it. 
Depending on the location of the unauthorised site, the management of issues relating to the Gypsy/Traveller community and the surrounding community lies with the different local authorities.  Essex County Council Gypsy and Traveller Services is responsible for the management and monitoring of all unauthorised encampments on Essex County Council owned land. 
 

Code for Travellers in Essex

This is the code to which Gypsy and Traveller communities on unauthorised encampments on Essex County Council land are expected to abide. It provides a basic framework of expectations for the encampment to be tolerated for up to 28 days.