ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the intertwining of the lives and aspirations of Gypsies and Travellers with the operations of the British planning system. Gypsies, Travellers and Roma are authoritatively judged to be among a handful of ‘England’s most disadvantaged groups’, and there is considerable evidence that suggests that this judgement would likely hold in Scotland, Wales and the whole island of Ireland. Essentialist accounts of the ‘true’ nature or boundaries of ethnic or racial groups are arguably more prominent in discussions of Gypsies and Travellers than in the case of any other racialised minority. In the case of Gypsies and Travellers, government and the courts have involved themselves in drawing distinctions that are deemed to serve the purposes of particular policy areas at a given time. The racism endured by Gypsies and Travellers in recent centuries is an illustration of one form that this racial thinking can take.
