Members of the Gypsy and Traveller Community have praised Islington Council for ‘really pushing’ to deliver long-awaited new sites in the borough, but the council suggests consultation could provoke ugly reactions from the public
Families from London’s Gypsy and Traveller community are hopeful after a North London council has found several potential permanent sites – but they will likely still have to grapple with local opposition. Islington Council began its search for suitable sites for the community several years ago, only to encounter several stumbling blocks around planning and objections from residents.
Under the Housing Act 2004, the council has to identify and meet the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers. Until now it has been unsuccessful in finding or delivering “culturally appropriate” land in the borough – but now nine potential pieces of land have sparked hope for households who have been waiting for years.
Philomena Mongan, a Hackney-based Irish Traveller advocating for the community, said families were “very happy” to see the new sites put forward and praised the local authority for “really pushing for these sites to be delivered, even though they’re going to be small”.
But she also shared her dismay that the council’s efforts had so far provoked a backlash, including responses that officers cut from the official consultation report because of “discriminatory” remarks.
Ms Mongan told the LDRS she found the public reaction was “shameful”. She said: “They don’t realise these families have a lot of history in Islington and have been there a long time.”
Speaking to the LDRS, one member of the local Traveller community, Lisa, said she, her children and grandchildren were “all born in Islington”. For safety purposes, Lisa asked that her family’s surname be kept anonymous because of the risk of harassment.
“My car was vandalised the last time we were in the papers,” she said. For many Gypsies and Travellers, living in a caravan is an essential part of their ethnic identity and social and cultural heritage.
A local review carried out in 2019 found most of Islington’s Gypsy and Traveller community had lived in the borough for years, with some households having arrived in the 1970s in caravans and intermittently pulling up there for a time. But as these communities found it harder to travel this way, some opted to move into brick-and-mortar housing.
Nancy Hawker, policy officer at London Gypsies and Travellers (LGT), said these families in the borough were “desperate for pitches” and blamed the failure to find suitable land earlier on objectors’ “extensive” campaigning against the council’s proposals.
The potential sites chosen by the council includes land it already owns on social housing estates such as Aubert Court and Mayville along with open spaces like Pleasant Place Garden, plus other vacant land.
As the council prepares to consult on these options it has flagged the risk of further opposition and “inappropriate or racist comments […] though these will be discouraged and rejected”.
Some locals who took part in an earlier engagement asked the council to look at available sites outside Islington, arguing that the borough was already too densely-populated. Others asked for “robust” data from the Gypsy and Traveller community to prove they had lived in the borough for more than five years.
After initially failing to find any sites for use in 2020, in 2022 the council identified a handful of options – but these were thrown out by independent planning inspectors.
A subsequent review combed through 252 potential sites from across the borough and through various stages whittled them down to the final shortlist of 9 pieces of land which could accommodate up to 13 pitches.
Council documents state that the Town Hall wants to “learn the lessons” from 2022 by avoiding public meetings or other scenarios that would create an environment for “unmoderated debate which have the potential for hostile or discriminatory comments and opinions to be expressed”.
The consultation is set to run from December to January 2026.
Got a story? Email josef.steen@reachplc or @jslondonldr on X.
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