STAND WITH GYPSIES AND TRAVELLERS.
SUPPORT NEGOTIATED STOPPING.
FIND COMMON GROUND.
Nomadism is not illegal in the UK.
But Gypsies and Travellers are being criminalised.
With the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, the government are trying to send an inhumane message: there is no place for Gypsies and Travellers in England and Wales.
We say: this is racism by design.
As long as they have nowhere to go, people will move and stop wherever necessary for survival and safety.
Under the Bill’s new laws, stopping on any land you do not own will be a criminal offence. Thousands of pounds worth of fines, potential prison time and seizure of people’s homes will directly attack a way of life that is protected by law.
But there is another way. Instead of enforcement and eviction, we can find common ground.
Join our campaign: Support Negotiated Stopping
Use our easy email tool below to lobby your local councillors just by entering your postcode.
Promote and support Negotiated Stopping in your area to prevent criminalisation and eviction of Gypsies and Travellers.
“You kind of grow up with a fear that you could go to bed and in the morning you might be dragged off by the council or they’d come with a digger in the night and dug a trench around you so you couldn’t get off.”
Making stopping illegal won’t solve the government’s housing crisis.
I stop for healthcare
I stop for my family
I stop for my services
1699 families are on waiting lists for pitches across England, with only 59 available.
Travelling and stopping is also a way of life that the government also has a legal duty to protect.
On both counts, the government are failing.
With few options, people pull up and stop wherever they can.
With the threat of even harsher enforcement hanging over them, Gypsies and Travellers will be forced to choose: your culture and safety, or your liberty?
This ultimatum is unacceptable.
With Negotiated Stopping, there is another way.
"We're not called Travellers because we travel. We're Travellers because that's our way of life, our culture. We need safe places to be, just like everyone else.”
Local Authorities can be the change.
Using Negotiated Stopping is a powerful alternative designed by Gypsies and Travellers and can fit the needs of your local area.
Pioneered over a decade ago in Leeds, a practical agreement can be drawn up by councils, Gypsies and Travellers and residents for people to stop on suitable unused land for a specific length of time to live side by side. Without the threat of eviction, people can access services, get an education and feel safe.
To be heard, we need your voice.
Support our campaign by inputting your post code into our easy email tool below to contact your local councillor.
Stand with Gypsies and Travellers. Support Negotiated Stopping. Find common ground.
“Before Negotiated Stopping, we used to get moved a lot from one camp to another. We used to be going round in circles.”
Imagine if you could…
End harmful evictions of Gypsies and Travellers
Fight against the criminalisation of trespass
Empower Gypsies and Travellers and respect the right to a nomadic life
