Gypsy and Traveller pitch planning trends
The Gypsy and Traveller pitch planning index stands at 301, the highest since 2016: three times the 2016 share of planning applications.
Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications since 2016
Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications in every 10,000 planning applications, over the 12 months to each month
How this is measuredA step up in 2025
Gypsy and Traveller pitches took 7.2 in every 10,000 applications in both 2023 and 2024, then 11 in 2025. That step coincides with the December 2023 change in England restoring people who have permanently stopped travelling to the planning definition of a traveller.
Concentrated in the South East
From 2023 to 2025 the South East received 19 applications in every 10,000, against 8.3 across the UK, followed by the East of England on 14. London had 0.6, the lowest in the UK. The Maidstone and Swale shared register leads with 249 since 2016.
Q3 2026 against a year earlier
Councils received 160 Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications in Q3 2026: 16 in every 10,000 applications, against 14 in Q3 2025, a share of all applications 15% higher than a year earlier.
Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications each quarter
160 in Q3 2026, against 148 a year earlier.
Out of every 10,000 applications
As a share of every application: 16 in every 10,000 in Q3 2026, against 14 a year earlier.
Where Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications concentrate
By region
Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications in every 10,000 planning applications, 2023 to 2025
Councils with the most
Applications since 2016
- Maidstone and Swale (shared register)
South East · 84 in every 10,000 249 -
Wiltshire
South West · 18 in every 10,000 104 -
Chichester
South East · 65 in every 10,000 99 -
Somerset
South West · 16 in every 10,000 90 -
Horsham
South East · 37 in every 10,000 81 -
Tandridge
South East · 50 in every 10,000 70 -
Central Bedfordshire
East of England · 23 in every 10,000 65 -
Wychavon
West Midlands · 39 in every 10,000 63 -
Cornwall
South West · 7.2 in every 10,000 56 -
Huntingdonshire
East of England · 25 in every 10,000 47
Latest Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications
- Land to the West of Woodside Preston New Road Freckleton Change of use of Land to provide two no. pitches for gypsy/ traveller occupation, including provision of 1 no. static caravan, 1 no. touring caravan and 1 no. day room for each pitch, and, 2 no. grass paddocks, landscaping arrangements, with access via the existing vehicular access point onto Preston New Road (retrospective)
- Horseshoes Hook Lane Hucking Kent Siting of 3no. additional mobiles for Gypsy/Traveller with associated hard and soft landscaping.
- Farnham Lodge Farnham Road Odiham Hook Hampshire Change of use of land for the provision of a Gypsy and Traveller site comprising no.3 pitches, each consisting of no.1 dayroom, no.1 store, no.1 touring caravan, no.1 static caravan and associated parking for 2 vehicles with associated engineering operations (part retrospective)
- Pleasant Streams Uffculme Devon Retention of seven additional pitches for gypsy and traveller families, each comprising a mobile home and associated parking, in addition to the six existing permanent pitches previously approved under planning permission 20/02128/FULL
- Land East Of Gamston District Centre Ambleside Gamston Nottinghamshire Outline application with all matters reserved except access for residential development of up to 550 dwellings, provision of up to 12.3 ha of Employment Land, land for the provision of a secondary school (Class F1), land for the provision of gypsy and traveller site (0.6 ha), associated infrastructure including open space, landscaping, footpaths/cycleways, access roads, active travel bridge over the A52, associated engineering works, sustainable drainage systems, with detailed accesses onto the A52 and Tollerton Lane. All other matters to be reserved.
- Robins Rest Park Lane Boughton Monchelsea Kent Change of use of land for stationing of 4no. additional mobile homes and 1no. day room on traveller site with the provision of 8 additional parking spaces and associated soft and hard landscaping.
How often are they refused?
Of 2,140 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 49.8% were refused, well above the 11.3% for all applications.
Refusal rate by year
Decisions, applications received 2016 to 2024
- Approved or refused2,140
- Refused49.8%
- Withdrawn before a decision206
- All applications11.3% refused
Questions
How many Gypsy and Traveller site planning applications are there in the UK?
Councils have received 3,678 since January 2016, 578 of them in the 12 months to September 2026. Their share of all applications is the highest since 2016.
Where are the most Gypsy and Traveller pitches being proposed?
Maidstone and Swale (shared register), Wiltshire and Chichester have received the most since 2016.
How often are Gypsy and Traveller site applications refused?
Of 2,140 received 2016 to 2024 and decided, 49.8% were refused, well above the 11.3% for all applications.
What do these figures count?
Applications that mention a Gypsy or Traveller site, pitch or caravan, a transit site or travelling showpeople. They count proposals, not pitches on the ground.
About Plota
Plota is the UK's most visited planning search, according to Similarweb. It shows every new planning application from every UK council, read daily from 390 planning registers, with past applications back to 2016 from more than 420 registers, including those of councils since merged. It also covers planning committee decisions, HMO licences and premises licences.
How this is measured
What needs an application
On 19 December 2023 England widened the planning definition of a traveller to include people who have stopped travelling permanently on grounds of education, health or old age.
Methodology
- What is counted: planning applications to UK councils whose description names Gypsy and Traveller pitches or a close variant of the words, by the date each council received them. These are planning applications, not completed schemes; the largest energy and infrastructure projects are consented nationally rather than by councils, so they sit outside these counts.
- How matches are checked: we read the 200 most recent Gypsy and Traveller pitch applications and 20 from every year since 2016 to confirm each one belongs.
- Topic counts leave out, by design, works to trees and applications that only discharge conditions, amend an earlier permission or approve reserved matters, which follow a scheme already counted. Everything else is counted.
- A share is the number out of every 10,000 applications over the previous 12 months. Each topic is a number in every 10,000 planning applications, so trends compare when overall planning activity changes; the share still moves when either the topic's count or the total does. The Gypsy and Traveller pitch planning index sets the 2016 share at 100, so 200 means twice as common as in 2016.
- Source: the planning registers of every UK council, January 2016 to September 2026, read on 9 November 2026.
- Planning is seasonal, so each quarter is compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Year on year: each topic's and theme's share of all applications in Q3 2026, against Q3 2025, at every council we hold. A share is the number in every 10,000 applications. Shares compare across councils and years; raw counts do not.
- Left out of the topic shares: Birmingham's applications from June to September 2026: a validation backlog at the council since June 2026: of 685 reference numbers it issued in September, its register lists 288. The same months a year earlier are left out too, so every comparison covers the same councils.
- Refusals: applications received 2016 to 2024 and decided, at councils whose published decisions pass our checks against their decision notices. Approvals and refusals count; withdrawals do not. "All applications" means every decision of that kind at the same councils over the same years. Applications received from 2025 are added once most are decided.
- Download the data (CSV): every topic and theme, each quarter since 2016.
Sources
- Annex 1 of Planning Policy for Traveller Sites was updated on 19 December 2023, restoring those who have permanently stopped travelling to the definition. gov.uk
- The current Annex 1 definition covers persons who have ceased to travel temporarily or permanently on grounds of education, health or old age. gov.uk