Traveller Law Research Unit

WHO WE WERE

The Unit's Co-Directors were Phil Thomas and Luke Clements and the Co-ordinator was Dr Rachel Morris. The Unit still benefits greatly from the expertise and guidance of an Advisory Committee.

WHAT WE DID

Between March 1995 and April 1998, the Telephone Legal Advice Service for Travellers (TLAST) was part of the Traveller Law Research Unit at Cardiff Law School. TLAST provided a telephone legal advice service for Gypsies and Travellers in the UK who, due to their way of life, face particular legal problems exacerbated by the inaccessibility of legal services. The often isolated locations of Travelling People make access to specialist legal advice by telephone more user-friendly, due to increased use of mobile telephones in those communities. TLAST was funded by the Nuffield Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust; Cardiff Law School covered (and continue to undertake) infrastructure costs.

About half of the calls received by TLAST were from Gypsies and Travellers, the other half being from Traveller-related service providers such as health visitors; educators; planners; lawyers; community development workers; Environment Health and other local government officers; members of the church and other private landowners seeking to provide sites for Gypsies and Travellers; academics; police officers; Traveller, equality and more general organisations; and the media.

Many calls regarding evictions under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 or other laws and bylaws were received, as were many related to matters of planning law and policy, and discrimination. A small number of calls were received from people wishing to complain about the poor quality of their holiday packages! Although TLAST was set up to service England and Wales, calls were also received from and contacts made in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and Europe.

Achievements

TLAST came to an end as of April 30th 1998; however, the closure of the service did not result in a vacuum as, in addition to the assistance and information provided to a wide range of people and organisations over the years, TLAST realised a number of concrete achievements:

  • The collation of a broad network of Travelling People and Traveller-related service providers - in particular, 'Traveller-friendly' lawyers - across the country, facilitating networking and information-sharing amongst service providers and improving the access of Gypsies and Travellers to such providers.
  • The production of a magazine, Travellers' Times, a useful networking and information-sharing tool. 500 copies of the first (text only) issue were printed; in October 2001, the photography and graphic-rich Issue 13 went to 4000+ individuals and organisations throughout the UK and the world.
  • The publication of a number of articles and directories, including the County-based Directory of Traveller-related Contacts, providing a further means of increasing contact with useful people and information regarding the law and services relating to Travelling People.
  • The organisation of Traveller law reform conferences (1997, 1999, 2000) at which hundreds of Travelling People and related service providers discuss and agree necessary reforms in the law and policy relating to Travelling People.
  • The bringing together of a number of Gypsy and Traveller organisations and individuals, in the form of an Advisory Committee, who may not previously have had the opportunity to meet on a regular basis to find common ground, discuss common concerns and share information.

1998-2002

TLRU continued to facilitate the networking of a wide range of people; and to research and publish on the laws, policies and practices which affect Gypsies and Travellers. The Unit no longer exists in a real sense but this web site remains in order that publications and other useful materials can still be accessed. A list of the Unit's books, articles and fact sheets is available.

Recent TLRU projects included distinct but complementary objectives:

  • drafting a Private Member's Bill promoting equal access to justice for Gypsies and Travellers (the Traveller Law Reform Bill); published on 31 January 2002;
  • surveying local authority expenditure on responses to 'unauthorised encampments', consulting with local authority and central government representatives on findings via a seminar and report in order to highlight issues of best practice, 'best value' and human rights (see At What Cost on the publications page);
  • sustaining TLRU's neutral facilitative role further Conferences on Traveller Law Reform to promote the Bill, and lobbying for a government-sponsored task force as the next step in the reform process;
  • studying the impact of the Human Rights Acts 1998 (the incorporation into British law of the European Convention on Human Rights) on local authority relationships with Travelling People, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), results to be published in early 2003.

TLRU acts or has acted in an advisory capacity on legal and policy matters relating to Travelling People for: the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (now ODPM); the Association of Chief Police Officers; the National Assembly for Wales (both the Equal Opportunities Committee and Traveller Education Funding review committee); the Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain; PricewaterhouseCoopers; Lords and Members of Parliament; the European Roma Rights Centre (ERRC); the Council of Europe and the OSCE; and the Institute of Public Policy research.

The Unit Co-ordinator regularly spoke at conferences, Awareness Days and training events (for example, for local authorities and police services throughout the UK, the Administrative Law Bar Association (ALBA), the Irish Traveller Movement (ITM) in Dublin, the Canadian Law and Society Association (CLSA), the Legal Action Group and other Cardiff University departments such as the City and Regional Planning and Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies); and taught on race and community relations, human rights, education, legal history, provision of legal services, policing, the media, and land use conflicts. The Co-ordinator sat on the Cardiff Law School Research Committee; was on the management committee of Cardiff Gypsy Sites Group; was a member of the UK Race in Europe Network (UKREN); and was nominated for the Liberty Human Rights Award in 1999 and 2002.

In February 2000 TLRU was granted 3 year Comic Relief joint funding, with the Rural Media Company (RMC) in Hereford, to continue and develop the production of the Travellers' Times magazine. Published three times a year (free of charge), this offered a focal point to promote information exchange, as well as providing a lobbying tool to sustain and build the momentum for Traveller-related law and policy reforms. The Rural Media Company hope to continue producing the magazine in the future.

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