The Conservatives said they would change the law to end a "two-tier planning system", which they claim is to blame for a rise in unauthorised traveller caravans. Essex MP James Cleverly, who is Shadow Housing Secretary, said communities were "being abandoned" by the current approach and "forced to tolerate lawbreaking on their doorsteps". The government said recent changes to planning guidelines showed it was "cracking down on illegal traveller sites" and it was "completely misleading to suggest otherwise".
Cliff Codona, chair of the National Travellers' Action Group, said travellers felt pushed into "breaking the law" because the planning system was "like a big dagger in their back". He said not enough new sites for caravans were approved, and planning applications from Gypsies and travellers were stopped "dead in their tracks". Friends, Families & Travellers – a charity supporting the Gypsy, Romany and traveller communities – said: "Instead of telling people where they can't go, it'd be more helpful to tell people where they can go." BBC analysis of data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government found councils across England reported 73% more unauthorised traveller caravans in January 2026 compared to January 2020.
The summer count of caravans, carried out each July, saw a 44% rise between 2019 and 2025, from 3,113 to 4,471. The Conservatives said leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – a policy the party first announced in October – would allow them to tighten planning laws and reduce the number of caravans installed without permission. Cleverly, whose Braintree constituency saw a caravan site built over a weekend in May allegedly without permission, accused Labour ministers of "turning a blind eye" to the issue.
He added: "A small minority of travellers are breaking the rules, and all too often, it is going unpunished. His party claimed the planning system encouraged Gypsies and travellers to "build first, apply for planning permission later". The public's "confidence that planning rules apply equally to everyone" had been "significantly eroded", it claimed.
After leaving the ECHR, the Conservatives said they would amend the Town and Country Planning Act if elected, so that "no retrospective planning application may be made for a material change of use of land to a residential caravan site". They argued that would mean "anyone who wants to live on land in a caravan must always get permission first". Planning appeal rules would also be changed to stop "occupiers from achieving through the appeal system what is denied through the application route".
A new statutory duty would be imposed on local councils to start enforcement action within 28 days of identifying an unauthorised residential caravan site. The government said the National Planning Policy Framework, which was updated yesterday, included a "strengthened approach to intentional unauthorised development". Since April, sites in Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and elsewhere have been transformed into caravan parks without permission.
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