Dear Deputy Prime Minister, I am writing to express our deep alarm following the catastrophic fire at the Redbourn Road Traveller site in Hertfordshire (AL3 6LB), which has left multiple families traumatised, displaced, and without homes. Some of those affected are directly connected to the Traveller Movement team.
16 Jul 202514/07/2025
Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP
Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities
House of Commons
London
SW1A 0AA
Re: Redbourn Site Fire: Urgent Call for National Action on Traveller Accommodation and Housing Justice
Dear Deputy Prime Minister,
I am writing to express our deep alarm following the catastrophic fire at the Redbourn Road Traveller site in Hertfordshire (AL3 6LB), which has left multiple families traumatised, displaced, and without homes. Some of those affected are directly connected to the Traveller Movement team.
This is not an isolated incident, it is the predictable and preventable result of a long-standing systemic failure of government policy at both local and national levels.
Romani Gypsies and Irish Travellers continue to be denied access to safe, legal, and dignified accommodation. Despite decades of advocacy, repeated warnings from experts, and clear recommendations from charities and parliamentary committees, successive governments have failed to deliver a national, coordinated, and properly resourced strategy for Traveller accommodation.
Instead, what we see is the steady erosion of rights and protections. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 has criminalised families with nowhere else to go. Local authorities face no meaningful pressure or enforcement to meet their statutory duties. Accommodation Needs Assessments are routinely flawed, outdated, or completely ignored, with no oversight and no consequence for non-compliance. This lack of accountability and ambition has created a dangerous vacuum.
Please read the full letter here