We had a TGRG meeting on Monday 16 December to discuss Haringey’s Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) site proposals. Please see some notes from the meeting below. 

• Liam Carroll (Councillor for White Hart Lane ward) described the three sites (Roundway, Clyde Road and Brookside Green). He said that Haringey has a forum with the GRT community who have long been asking for additional pitches. Demand for pitches outstrips supply. 
• The council currently pays lots of money to provide temporary accommodation to members of the GRT community who would rather live in pitches. Providing pitches would mean those residents paying rent to Haringey, rather than Haringey paying for temporary accommodation.
• Liam recognised that the three sites are close together. The reason why they are all in the east of Haringey is that the council doesn’t own as much land in the west of the borough. And Haringey can only build the pitches on land it owns.   
• It’s been determined that neither the Brookside Green nor Haringey sites would be suitable for bricks and mortar housing.  
• Attendees asked about the other sites which were considered before Brookside, Roundway and Clyde Road were chosen. A freedom of information request has been lodged to find out why the other sites were discarded. Liam said that he didn’t think the FOI would succeed as he has been told that information about the other sites is commercially sensitive. 
• Attendees pointed out that the three sites are all in the poorest part of the borough, in wards with lower voting rates and where people are less likely to stand up to challenge council proposals. It is unfair that all three sites should be clustered around an already deprived part of Haringey where services are already stretched. 
• In terms of timescales, Liam said it’s unlikely construction would start before 2026. But the project hasn’t been confirmed yet. The council needs to consider the consultation responses and would then have to carry out a survey of the sites, get planning permission etc.