York Travellers Trust
Gypsy and Traveller Working Group
ACTION PLAN May 2025 - May 2026
Updated: May 2025
Housing
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Action |
Information |
Update |
Timescale |
Owner |
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Retrofit and site improvements |
· Respond to the stock condition survey through planned investment in each pitch on the three council owned sites
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· Survey Complete. · £750k available in this year's capital programme. Grant application submitted to support match funding to enable deeper retrofit works.
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Complete March 2026 |
Housing Delivery Programme Manager. |
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Improve Outgang Lane |
· Improve Outgang Lane for pedestrians and cyclists. |
· Topographical survey complete. Design options being developed. Capital programme approved for this year. |
Complete March 2026 |
Housing Delivery Programme Manager. |
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Improve repairs service |
· Deliver a reactive repairs service to all pitches across three council owned sites with KPI performance to match that of council house tenants.
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Summer 2025 |
Head of Building Services. |
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Additional pitches |
· Support the Local Plan team in reviewing opportunities for the provision of additional Gypsy and Traveller pitches to meet the identified need and developing a Supplementary Planning Document to support good quality new provision.
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· Engagement strategy being developed. Assessment of good practice from elsewhere in the country being considered. |
Options to be available and considered for the location of additional pitches by March 2026. Thereafter, a delivery plan to be developed. |
Housing Delivery Programme Manager. |
Communities & Equalities
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Action |
Information |
Update |
Timescale |
Owner |
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Anti Racism |
· Ensuring that the Anti-Racism Work being undertaken in the Council and in partnership across the city has a specific focus on racism toward Gypsy and Traveller Communities. |
As part of the design process for anti-racism training across the council, York Travellers Trust will be consulted. |
Ongoing work. |
Assistant Director Customer, Communities and Inclusion |
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Human Rights |
· Making sure that the specific culture and way of life of these groups is considered when making changes to policies or services that may impact on their human rights. · Recognising this when developing the new Human Rights and Equalities Analysis Tool. |
As part of training for Human Rights & Equities Champions on the Tool mentioned, information on the way of life for these groups and potential barriers faced, will be included. |
Ongoing to Feb 26. |
Assistant Director Customer, Communities and Inclusion |
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Mapping |
· Working with York Travellers Trust begin a mapping exercise to better understand where our Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are in York. |
Collate details of GRT households to share with our Public Health, Education and Housing teams as relevant. |
Ongoing work. |
Cultural and Integration Partnership Manager
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Health
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Action |
Information |
Update |
Timescale |
Owner |
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Strengthen our partnership approach to health protection |
· Work to increase knowledge and awareness of national seasonal vaccination campaigns and childhood immunisation schedule, and support community members to access vaccination · Increase uptake of key cancer screening programmes – cervical, bowel and breast. · Engage with York Travellers Trust as part of outbreak planning and during local outbreaks and incidents, to build community trust
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· Increasing knowledge and uptake of childhood vaccination schedule will form a part of the outreach model of child health as described below in action 2.
· ICB initiative in place aimed at improving the coding of Inclusion Health groups in medical records including Gypsy, Roma and Traveller populations resulting in 32% increase in the number of coded patients. GP practices will receive £5.45 for each GRT individual meeting linked to any of 10 QOF indicators including for cervical screening.
· In addition, Priory Medical Group have taken on a new nurse role to work with these groups.
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Ongoing to Feb 26 |
Nurse Consultant in Public Health |
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Build culturally sensitive approaches to improving the health of people in the Gypsy and Traveller community |
· Implement an outreach model of child health, delivered by an Advanced Nurse Practitioner, from Family Hubs specifically working with the community. · Build on the HNA to gather further data and evidence on improving health and wellbeing, in order to recommend effective interventions from reducing health inequalities |
· Due to inability to recruit an Advance Nurse Practitioner into Nimbus, the model has been reworked and is now a blended approach that consists of:
· York Travellers Trust (YTT) leading on community research to understand the health needs and barriers in accessing health care for children, young people and families. · Healthy Child Service Specialist Inclusion Health, Health Visitor and a dedicated Nurse will work alongside YTT to develop relationships and trust to develop outreach health provision for the community.
· This model aims to provide insights for service delivery and respond to health needs with support/ advice as they are identified throughout the project.
· September 2025 is the anticipated start date and work will continue for a duration of 18 months. It is anticipated that learning from this project and evaluation will support ongoing outreach provision by the Healthy Child Service. |
Ongoing to Feb 26 |
Director of Public Health |
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Influence Health partners around access to care |
· Work with York Travellers Trust to ensure health settings in York have resources and information that can be easily accessed by the Gypsy and Traveller communities. These may include resources written in simple English, photographs representative of the communities, or delivered in different formats, such as audio and information 24 sessions. Topics would include various health topics, including accessing the most relevant health services for a specific health condition, information around diseases and conditions commonly experienced by the communities, and immunisation and vaccination. · Build a greater awareness amongst health care professionals of the challenges an increased reliance on technology can pose to the communities for appointment-making, test results, and other communication. Advise that more traditional forms of communication should still be offered. |
· Training delivered to GPs as part of Protected Learning Time in Summer 2024. ICB have been running Health Inequalities training with all local GP practices and the York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
· Health Trainer team have attended Osbaldwick, James Street and Clifton sites offering stop smoking support and general health and wellbeing support. They have also supported two site staff through their NCSCT stop smoking qualification to provide support in between visits from the Health Trainer team.
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Ongoing to Feb 26 |
Director of Public Health |
Community Safety
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Action |
Information |
Update |
Timescale |
Owner |
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Roadside Stopping/unauthorised encampments.
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· Work with York Travellers Trust to review our approach to Roadside Stopping/Unauthorised encampments.
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· A ‘call for land’ to landowners and developers has been launched as part of the Local Planning process with the aim of finding one or two suitable sites for Negotiated Stopping.
· In addition, discussions are ongoing with Sanctuary Stopping to explore if any church land might also be available for this purpose. |
Ongoing |
Community Safety |
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Multi-Agency work on static sites
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· In partnership with York Travellers Trust produce an accessible version of the Travellers Site licence agreement.
· Work to improve relationships and increase trust between Gypsy and Traveller communities and enforcement agencies such as the council’s Neighbourhood Enforcement Team and North Yorkshire Police.
· Have a regular and supportive presence on the static sites, taking an educational approach to ensure people are aware of their responsibilities for issues such as waste management, fly-tipping, Scrap Metal Dealing and dogs, while at the same ensuring people are aware of the penalties for non-compliance.
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· This work is now being led by the Travellers Team, Housing Services.
· It is hoped that co-production work on the above accessible version of the licence agreement by Gypsy and Traveller communities and partners can be used as catalyst to re-set and build relationships, by increasing understanding around the need for enforcement functions and increasing familiarity with those who deliver them.
· This action is also linked to the above. |
Ongoing |
Multi-Agency |
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Hate Crime |
· York Travellers Trust is a member of the multi-agency York Hate Crime Partnership and a Third-Party Reporting Centre. The group will work with YTT to identify and address any specific needs in relation to the Gypsy Traveller community. · To ensure coordination of work to address issues such as misogyny across the Domestic Abuse and Violence Against Women and Girls work-streams.
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· The York Hate Crime Partnership is currently reviewing the operating model for Third Party Reporting. YTT are members of this group.
· The CEO of York Travellers Trust will be presenting at the York and North Yorkshire Hate Crime Conference on 15th October 2025 on the subject of ‘OK to hate? Gypsy and Travellers perspective on hate crimes’ |
December 2025. |
York Hate Crime partnership/\York and North Yorkshire Inclusive Communities Joint Commissioning Group. |
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Action |
Information |
Update |
Timescale |
Owner |
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Response to York St John report on education experiences of G& T students in York and the national report of the Traveller Movement ‘Fought not Taught’ |
· A working party of Headteachers and CEOs to be formed and to meet regularly to consider strategic response to this. · Reports of progress to made to York Schools and Academies Board. · Work is being undertaken to scope the feasibility of a Virtual Head role to champion the educational outcomes of Gypsy and Traveller children and young people. |
· Two meetings have occurred with extended membership to secondary settings
· Updates have been shared with YSAB
· Strategic response to the plan has been agreed |
July 2025 |
Dan Bodey, School Inclusion Advisor
Jonny Uttley, CEO of TEAL Trust
York Schools and Academies Board. |
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Conference to be planned for all schools in Spring 2026 |
· Conference to include building the Cultural Awareness of school leaders, how to improve the visibility and celebration of the G&T community in settings, and how this community's education outcomes will be more explicitly tracked in our city |
· Content of conference agreed including student voice from Vale of York Academy
· Links to get speakers from YTT and Traveller Movement to be made and voices to be identified to speak from parents and young people from the community |
May 2026 |
Dan Bodey, School Inclusion Advisor
Jonny Uttley, CEO of TEAL Trust
York Schools and Academies Board.
York Travellers Trust
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