Andy Burnham has been urged to pursue ‘the Irish Option’ to tackle a surge in illegal traveller sites – as he was accused of weakening existing rules. 

Because trespass is a civil matter, enforcement is put in the hands of councils rather than police – but Tory figures argue it should be made into a criminal offence, as it was in Ireland in 2002, so police can rapidly intervene. 

The latest official analysis found 4,950 caravans situated on land without planning permission in January, a 73 per cent increase compared to five years ago.

Locals regularly report unauthorised traveller encampments to police, only for councils to have to navigate a lengthy legal process in order to clear the camps. 

Tory housing spokesman Sir James Cleverly is backing a similar measure which would make it a crime if two or more people trespass on land with a vehicle before refusing to leave when requested by the landowner. 

He told the Daily Mail this would ‘establish a real deterrent against trespass’ by leaving ‘law-breaking travellers’ at risk of criminal prosecution. 

Boris Johnson’s administration passed a law that made setting up illegal camps a crime punishable by up to three months in prison. 

But this was struck down in 2024 by the High Court, which ruled it amounted to unlawful discrimination against travellers under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).

Sir James said a new Tory government would avoid the trespass law being blocked in future by leaving the ECHR. In Ireland – a fellow signatory to the ECHR – the law has been upheld by courts against legal challenges. 

Roundhay Park in Leeds has been blighted by four illegal traveller encampments this year alone. Pictured is one in recent months 

He added: ‘The Conservatives are on the side of people who play by the rules. That is why we will give the police the backing they need to crack down on criminality and establish a real deterrent against trespass.

‘With the freedoms we gain by leaving the ECHR, we will tackle illegal sites, end the two-tier system where travellers get special treatment, and ensure the law is respected.’

Criminalising trespass would not affect unauthorised sites being set up on land that travellers already own. 

These accounted for nearly nine in ten of the 4,335 unauthorised sites identified in January. Only 615 were on land not owned by travellers, although this still represents an 81 per cent increase on January last year. 

In many cases, travellers buy up fields and start building on them as soon as councils close for bank holiday weekends before ignoring demands to leave. 

They often apply for retrospective planning permission, which is sometimes granted on the basis that there are not enough legal sites in the local area. 

Kent has become a particular hotspot for illegal sites, with five new ones springing up in the hamlet of Sandway in just nine months, to the fury of locals. 

Critics believe that updates to national planning laws by Angela Rayner’s housing, communities and local government department will now make it easier for new camps to be set up. 

Concerns about ‘long-distance travelling’ and the ‘potential environmental damage caused by unauthorised encampment’ were deleted from the final version of the blueprint published on August 17.

The new National Planning Policy Framework also omitted references in last year’s draft version to ‘minimising adverse impacts from local environmental factors (such as noise and air quality) on the health and wellbeing of travellers that may locate there’.

Four of the five unauthorised traveller sites that have appeared in the Kent hamlet of Sandway 

Tory housing spokesman Sir James Cleverly wants to make it a crime if two or more people trespass on land with a vehicle before refusing to leave when requested by the landowner

Another sentence about making sure travellers and their sites are not ‘isolated from the rest of the community’ was also removed.

The updated document also included a new suggestion that ‘locations not well-related to existing settlements may be appropriate’.

An accompanying report explaining changes to the framework following a public consultation stated: ‘References to health and wellbeing impacts have been removed to ensure that traveller site proposals are considered consistently with other forms of development under the wider Framework, including in relation to policies on flood risk and environmental quality.

‘A change has been made to address concerns that traveller sites may find it more difficult to gain permission under policy S5. This specifies that it may be appropriate for traveller sites to be in locations not well related to existing settlements.’

Sir James – who fought an illegal traveller site in his Essex constituency – said the changes would make it easier for travellers to ‘abuse the system’, adding: ‘By watering down the rules, Labour are inviting travellers to set up unauthorised camps and simply get things rubber stamped by planning officers after the concrete has been poured.

‘Local communities forced to tolerate lawbreaking from a small minority of travellers will be furious that Angela Rayner’s department is trying to stop the authorities from combatting these underhand tactics.’

The Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government has denied the claims, writing in a press notice: ‘Put simply, the reforms do not make it easier to secure permission for unauthorised development. 

‘In fact, they make the planning framework clearer and stronger by giving greater weight to intentional breaches of planning rules.’

The research said that the reforms had ‘strengthened’ the rules on intentional unauthorised development by telling councils to give ‘substantial weight’ to whether a sight had been built without permission when considering retrospective planning applications. 

It added that there had been ‘no weakening’ of environmental protections and the changes had simply ‘removed duplications, not protections’.  

An unauthorised encampment constructed by Michael Delaney, 39, on land he bought on a woodland site in Sussex

As well as imposing indefinite return bans, the Tories said they would also give police a new power to remove travellers from a site if requested by the landowner, rather than only if significant damage or distress has been caused.

And the party said it would end the practice of ‘build first, apply for permission later’ by prohibiting retrospective planning applications for caravan sites.

Meanwhile, travellers told the BBC they had no option but to break the law. Cliff Codona, who runs the National Travellers’ Action Group, claimed that ‘as soon as they know you’re a gypsy’ a planning application is ‘stopped dead in its tracks’. 

Traveller groups have also argued against plans to criminalise trespass by claiming it criminalises the nomadic way of life.  

A Government spokesman said: ‘The government is cracking down on illegal traveller sites, including giving councils strong powers to tackle trespassing, and it is completely misleading to suggest otherwise.

‘Our new planning rules also explicitly tackle any potential environmental damage and transport impacts, and make it harder for people to get retrospective permission for developments that were built without approval.’