Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople Development Plan Document

Gypsy and Traveller communities in Maidstone Borough

41. There are approximately 71,200 households^[7] in Maidstone borough, but only approximately 576 Gypsy, Traveller and Travelling Showpeople households^[8].
     
42. In response to the 2021 Census, 5,405 people in Kent (0.3%) identified themselves as being from Gypsy and Irish Traveller ethnic groups, while the corresponding figure for England was 0.1%.
     
43. Maidstone borough has the highest Gypsy and Traveller population by local authority area across England and Wales, at 1,009 'usual residents' ^[9]. The Gypsy and Traveller population per 1,000 residents in Maidstone equates to 5.74. The national average is 1.06 per 1,000 of the population.
     
44. Although the borough's ward boundaries have since altered, the 2021 census data shows that within Kent, the wards of Marden and Yalding, Coxheath and Hunton, and Headcorn^[10] ranked in the top five of England local authority districts with the highest proportion of people from the Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic group. At a Parish level, Linton, Hunton and Ulcombe^[11] have high populations of Gypsy and Irish Travellers communities.
     
45. Importantly, these numbers may be lower than the true population size as people from Gypsy or Irish Traveller ethnic groups are often reluctant to disclose their ethnicity for fear of discrimination. Additionally, the mobile nature of these communities can mean that counts taken as snapshots in time may be less stable in their accuracy. Furthermore, the 2021 Census was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic when many people were displaced from their usual place of residence.

46. The map overleaf shows the spatial distribution of the borough's existing Gypsy and Traveller sites (both authorised and unauthorised) (Figure 1) as well the existing 'GT1' site allocations in the Local Plan Review.
     
47. It is apparent that the current spatial distribution of sites is that the majority are located in the southern half of the borough and predominantly in rural, countryside locations, outside of settlement boundaries.

Existing sites and allocations in Maidstone Borough

Figure 1: Location of existing Gypsy and Traveller Sites and Local Plan Review GT1 site allocations in Maidstone Boroug

Permanent accommodation requirements 2023 to 2040

48. In 2025, we published a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment (GTAA)^[12]. This supersedes all earlier iterations and updates of the GTAA and takes account of the changes made to the national PPTS in December 2024, as well as incorporating the outcomes of our initial Pitch Deliverability Assessment^[13]. The 2025 GTAA provides the foundation evidence of accommodation need and potential deliverability of sites from 2023 to 2040.
     
49. The GTAA is robustly based on over 350 interviews with traveller households that were undertaken on sites and yards in Maidstone. It identifies accommodation needs for households that meet the definition of Gypsies and Travellers and Travelling Showpeople in Annex 1 of PPTS and households whose status for the purposes of the planning definition, could not be determined.
     
50. The following table sets out the identified Gypsy and Traveller and Travelling Showpeople accommodation needs in Maidstone.

51. Using the GTAA evidence, the PPTS^[14] requires us to set pitch and plot targets for Travellers as defined in Annex 1. We should use these targets to identify deliverable sites^[15] for years 1 to 5 of the plan (i.e. allocations); to identify developable sites^[16] or broad locations for years 6 to 10, and where possible 11 to 15.
     
52. 251 deliverable pitches and 2 deliverable plots therefore require allocation in the first five years for households meeting the planning definition.
     
53. Need occurring after year five results from assumed household formation^[17] rates. The GTAA recommends that the need arising from undetermined households is addressed through the development management process. Any applications could be assessed against a criteria-based policy.

Transit site requirements

54. Due to historic low numbers of short-term encampments, and the presence of Community Protection Notices, the 2025 GTAA concludes that there is no need for any formal transit site provision in Maidstone at this time.
     
55. However, it is the Council's belief that more work is required to understand where transit sites are most needed across the county, to further reduce the occurrence of unauthorised encampments. Discussions with the travelling community and other relevant organisations, including Kent County Council, neighbouring local authorities and the Kent Police are ongoing to determine where transit sites may be most appropriately located, based on travelling patterns and instances of recorded unauthorised encampments across Kent. Discussions with Kent County Council, as the upper-tier local authority covering Kent, as to how a Kent-wide study may be taken forward are ongoing. However, it is acknowledged that this is beyond their statutory requirement as a planning authority.
     
56. Based on travel patterns and recorded unauthorised encampments, it may be that the most appropriate locations for transit site provision are determined to be not within the borough, but elsewhere in Kent.