Official Report · Committee
Gypsy Traveller Sites (PE1321)
The next petition is PE1321, by Lynne Tammi, on behalf of members of the Young Gypsy/Travellers’ Lives Project, calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to remove the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 from all future guidance on the management of Gypsy Traveller temporary and halt sites.I seek members’ views on how to proceed with the petition.
I welcome the Scottish Government’s statement that it will not refer to the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 in the site management guidance that is under review at the moment and its welcome for the involvement of the Young Gypsy/Travellers’ Lives Project and other members of the Gypsy Traveller community in the review of the guidance.I was struck by the statement from Justine Wilson, who is 20 years old and part of a travelling family. She said:“At the start of the year we were staying on a road-side camp in Argyll. This camp was up an old back-road with many lay-bys. Every day new people—who were not Gypsy/Travellers—would arrive to spend some time there ‘wild camping”—whatever that is—“but we were the only ones who were asked to leave.”The point that the petitioners make is that the act is used almost exclusively for the Gypsy Traveller community. It has been stated that the 145-year-old act—or however old it is—is used as a last resort, but the petitioners dispute that. Could we ask the Government whether it will reiterate strongly in the unauthorised camping guidelines and the site management guidance that the act should be used only as a last resort?I understand that the guidance from the Association of Chief Police Officers in Scotland states that the act can be used. Can we write to ask whether it will consider removing that from the guidance and, if it will not do so, whether it will consider making a strong statement that the act should be used only as a last resort and should not simply target one section of our community?
Are you suggesting that we continue the petition?
Yes.
Okay. There are no other views from the committee, so that is agreed.
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