Gypsy and Traveller Planning Support and Welfare Reports
Planning decisions are not only about land. They affect people’s homes, health, education, safety and family life.
Proud Gypsy Traveller CIC provides culturally informed welfare reports and planning advocacy for ethnic Gypsy and Traveller families across England.
Our work helps ensure that the human consequences of a planning decision are properly understood.
The reality behind the application
The shortage of authorised Gypsy and Traveller sites leaves many families with few genuine choices.
Families may face overcrowding, repeated roadside displacement or enforcement action after trying to create a home on land they own.
The system then treats the family as the problem while ignoring the shortage that placed them there.
Site shortages cannot be solved by repeatedly punishing families for having nowhere lawful to live.
What is a welfare report?
A welfare report explains the individual and family circumstances that may be relevant to a planning application, appeal or enforcement case.
Depending on the circumstances, it may consider:
- Physical and mental health
- Disability and additional needs
- Children’s education and support
- Caring responsibilities
- Safeguarding and personal safety
- Accommodation history
- Family and community support
- Cultural accommodation needs
- The likely effects of displacement
- The availability of realistic alternatives
Every report is based on the circumstances of the people involved. We do not use a generic template to make different families sound the same.
Why cultural understanding matters
Important evidence can be missed when professionals do not understand Gypsy and Traveller family structures, communication, caring responsibilities or accommodation needs.
Strong extended-family relationships may provide essential childcare, disability support, protection and informal care. Moving somebody away from that network can have consequences that are invisible on a site plan.
Our role is to make those consequences visible.
How we work
We begin with a confidential conversation about the case and the support required. usually via your legal representation.
Where appropriate, we will:
- Speak with the applicant and relevant family members.
- Review available planning, health, education and welfare information.
- Identify missing evidence or areas requiring clarification.
- Prepare a clear, evidence-based welfare report.
- Work with the family’s planning agent or legal representative where authorised.
We communicate in ways that work for the family. Literacy, digital access or communication style will not be used as a barrier.
Who can contact us?
We accept enquiries from:
- Gypsy and Traveller individuals and families
- Planning agents and consultants
- Solicitors and legal representatives
- Advocates and community organisations
You do not need to understand planning language before contacting us. Tell us what is happening in your own words.
Honest, evidence-based reporting
A welfare report cannot guarantee planning permission and does not replace specialist planning or legal advice.
We will not exaggerate evidence or promise an outcome we cannot control. Equally, we will not minimise a family’s circumstances to make them more comfortable for decision-makers.
Our responsibility is to present the evidence clearly, accurately and with the cultural understanding it deserves.
Request planning or welfare support
Contact PGT as early as possible. Do not wait until an appeal deadline or enforcement date is approaching.
Please tell us:
- Where the land is located
- What stage the case has reached
- Whether there are any deadlines
- Whether a planning agent or solicitor is involved
- The best way to contact you