Gypsy and Traveller sites in North Yorkshire

As of January 2020, there were 27 Traveller sites across Hambleton, with a total of 81 pitches. Many of these are small - one to two pitches. Many of these sites are well established. 

The two largest are:

• Bankside Close, Thirsk - 16 pitches
• Hillfield Close, Seamer -16 pitches

These are both public sites. 

This number also includes an undeveloped new private site at Goose Lane, Sutton on the Forest, where planning permission was granted for eight permanent and four transit pitches in March 2014, following a call for sites in early 2013.

There are two official Gypsy and Traveller sites in the Harrogate district. They are at:

• Bickerton
• Thistle Hill

The Ryedale Traveller site is at Tara Park in Malton. 

Each pitch on the site has its own service block, with a kitchen area and bathroom.

The site manager visits often and will help you when needed, or arrange for our support officers to contact you, if necessary.

Conditions

You must maintain your own pitch, keeping your pitch and garden area clean and tidy. 
You will be responsible for the general upkeep of the site and must not cause a nuisance.

You may not be offered a pitch if:

• you have any other home, or own any property, elsewhere
• you owe us money for any reason
• you currently, or have in the past, trespassed on one of our Traveller sites
• you show unacceptable or anti-social behaviour
• you provide false or misleading information and / or deliberately withhold information, or provide an incomplete application form
• it deliberately worsens your circumstances

Licences and benefits

Your licence will cost between £70 or £80 per pitch per week, depending on its location.

You can apply for Housing Benefit to help you pay for this but this does not include water and sewerage charges.

You will also have to pay council tax for your pitch. You can apply for council tax support to help you pay for this.

You can also apply for the housing element of Universal Credit.

Apply

Contact us for an application form.

You will be added to a waiting list which uses a priority system with a points and bands system relating to your needs. Within each band, applications are ranked in date order of when they were accepted. A description of the points criteria checklist is in our  Tara Park Allocations Policy (pdf / 682 KB). 

The availability of site pitches is restricted and depends on a site becoming available. As a result, we cannot provide any time frames once your position in the waiting list has been confirmed.

Other options

You do have other options, either while you wait for a pitch or as an alternative.

You can apply to join North Yorkshire Home Choice on their website if you have a connection to North Yorkshire. It means you can be added to a list of people who want to be considered for flats and houses owned by us and housing associations in North Yorkshire.

For more information, contact us. 

There are no local authority owned Gypsy and Traveller sites in Craven. However, there are two private sites in Skipton.