Gypsy and Traveller caravan count: January 2022
Number of Gypsy and Traveller caravan's on authorised, unauthorised and local authority sites, January 2022.
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Main points
On 20 January 2022 there were 1,065 Gypsy and Traveller caravans and 140 sites reported in Wales.
Between January 2021 and January 2022, the total number of Gypsy and Traveller caravans stayed the same and the total number of sites (both authorised and unauthorised) has increased by 0.7% (1 site).
Caravans by site authorisation
At the time of the January 2022 count, the total number of Gypsy and Traveller caravans in Wales was 1,065. There were 919 caravans on authorised sites with planning permission, accounting for 86% of all caravans. Of these, 603 (66%) were on socially rented sites and 316 (34%) were on privately funded sites.
Chart 1 below shows the breakdown of caravans by authorised and unauthorised status.
There were 99 caravans on unauthorised sites on land owned by Gypsies and Travellers, accounting for 9% of all caravans. A further 47 caravans (4% of all caravans) were on unauthorised sites on land not owned by Gypsies and Travellers.
Cardiff, Flintshire, Pembrokeshire and Neath Port Talbot had the highest total numbers of caravans; combined these accounted for 52% of all caravans. Newport had the highest number of caravans on unauthorised sites (36 caravans, accounting for 25% of all caravans on unauthorised sites).
In some cases, caravans are on sites which are unauthorised but the local authority has decided not to seek removal of the encampment. In January 2022 there were 93 caravans on tolerated unauthorised sites. The largest number of these were seen in Vale of Glamorgan where there were 25 caravans on tolerated unauthorised sites. There were 53 caravans on unauthorised sites that were not tolerated.
Detailed local authority level tables are provided in the accompanying tables. Further background and quality information can be found in the quality and methodology information section. Terms which have a special meaning are explained in the glossary.
Pitches on local authority sites
There were 409 pitches on Gypsy and Traveller sites provided by local authorities in Wales on 20 January 2022. Of these, 407 were residential pitches and 2 were transit pitches.
Cardiff, Pembrokeshire and Neath Port Talbot had the highest number of pitches provided by local authorities (80, 73 and 67 pitches respectively) accounting for over half of the total number of pitches (54%). There were 8 local authorities that reported having no pitches on 20 January 2022. At the time of the count, 98% of the residential pitches were occupied.
Chart 4 shows a breakdown over time of the number of pitches in Wales.
Quality and methodology information
Detailed information on data quality and methodology can be found in the quality report.
Contact details
Statistician: Andy O’Rourke
Telephone: 0300 025 9578
Email: stats.inclusion@gov.wales
Media: 0300 025 8099
SFR 132/2022