The committee found the Bill would create extra burdens on public authorities dealing with people living in unauthorised encampments.
It urged the government instead to reintroduce the statutory duty on local authorities to provide sites for these communities, and to amend the bill so a criminal offence is committed only where an adequate authorised site has been made available.
It called for an amendment so that a caravan cannot be seized if it is a person’s principal home and they would have nowhere else to live. The legislation must be sufficient clear for the police to enforce its provisions, the committee said, and conditions entirely based on potential acts and potential impacts should be removed.
Committee chair Harriet Harman said: ‘This Bill takes a major step in making it a criminal offence for Gypsy, Roma and Travellers communities to be on private land without consent.’
Harman said the committee’s proposals would ensure the human rights of these communities are respected at the same times as landowners have their property rights protected.
The Bill passed its third reading this week. Attention has focused on several controversial aspects, notably extra powers for police to curb protests, including where only one person is protesting, on the basis of ‘noise’; increased powers of stop and search; and up to ten years in prison for damaging a memorial.
