THE DISTRIBUTION OF GYPSY CARAVANS IN ENGLAND, 1979-94

The Department of the Environment, through local authorities, undertak es a bi-annual count of Gypsy caravans in England and Wales. This arti cle analyses some of these data for England over the 1974-94 period Ov erall, against an upward trend in the number of Gypsy caravans there h as been a decline in caravans counted on unauthorised sites and a grow th in those counted on private and local authority sites. However; thi s general picture hides a considerable degree of variation in the expe rience of Gypsies at the county level. Moreover; given this variation, it is suggested that measures concerned with Gypsies and trespass in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 will have a correspondi ngly uneven impact on the Gypsy population.