To not be that concerned about moving close to a traveller site?

[Buddhagirl]

Me and DH are looking to buy our 1st home. The best house on the market in our price range is about 200metres away from an established mobile home, traveller site.

I'm not bothered, if you look up the crime statistics then it is not higher in that area...the house is cheap, maybe because it is near there.

I don't know, DH thinks I'm mad to want to move there, am i over looking something?

[CakeExpectations]

Irrespective of the location, I have learnt the hard way that it was a mistake to persuade DH to buy a house that he had reservations about.

Every time something negative transpires, it'll be argument ammunition.

[zatyaballerina]

I'd talk to the locals first, any neighbour could turn out to be a nightmare and not necessarily those you would expect. Travellers have a bad reputation because a minority behave appallingly and in some places the police refuse to do anything about illegal activity because they don't want to be deemed 'racist' If you have crap policing in the area it'll be a magnet for anti social types of all backgrounds and life will be shit with no force prepared or able to protect you.

Find about before you move what kind of issues are problematic in the area, don't assume anything.

[liquidstate]

I live just down the road from one. To be honest apart from looking untidy, the antisocial children who like to throw stones at passing cars, the flytipping and the fact they stole machinery from my husbands farm they are no bother.

We have never been broken into but then we do not have fancy gadgets in the house (old tv and laptop), plus we have a dog. We put a big warning sign up about the dog despite the fact he is an old softy.

We till bought our house knowing the site existed.

[Buddhagirl]

So hard to know, probably not worth it due to reselling. Shame though. From the crime map it's clear that there is no higher crime rate there.

Also good point about argument ammunition, if it does turn out to be a nightmare I would feel guilty.

[tethersend]

Well said, WooWooSister.

[Southwestwhippet]

Regarding crime rate, it is worth being aware that certainly in my village, I am in the minority reporting the petty theft that goes on. Most people will not bother to report crime if they think it linked to the local site as they believe the police are powerless.

I have had many many chickens stolen from my garden by people from the site. Most were stolen for sheer pleasure, and had their necks rung immediately. I know this as a boy I know goes to school with the culprits and they were openly bragging about it.

there are many people from the local site who are very pleasant. Unfortunately there is a small but persistent minority who cause endless problems locally, through the generations. They appear to have no respect for others and are mindlessly and wilfully criminal. Many people are afraid of them which is partly why they don't report crime to the police.

[Charlottehere]

I live on a housing estate which backs onto a permanent traveller site. Very little trouble. Houses are up to 700,000k on here!!

[runningforthebusinheels]

We have a travellers site (a tiny one) just outside our village. Its a mile away from us, and we've never known any trouble (wouldn't know it's there tbh). There are 2 large houses, with a lot of land attached, adjoining it.

One of the houses say they are no problem at all, lovely people etc. The other - well you never hear the end of it! She's claimed they put rat poison down for her dogs, leave rubbish everywhere, and has raised petitions against them, claimed her house has dropped 2/3 of it's value etc. It's strange.

But I feel v uncomfortable even posting this, as someone else said - put in the word 'jewish', 'black', 'gay' etc - and you wouldn't even be having this discussion...

[BigBongTheory]

I'd consider it if it were my final house but resale would put me off.

We've lost lots of sales due to being next to ex-council, privately owned flats that have never been any trouble. We decided then we'd never buy anything which would put people off before they've even looked at it.

[monkeymamma]

We live right next to one (literally over the road) and we had lived here for 11 months before I realised it was there! No downsides for me whatsoever, DS also loves their horses which are generally tethered by the road or in the field opposite our house. I don't hear of any crime, trouble etc linked to the community there.

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

I'm sorry folks. I can't read this thread without my blood boiling.

Insert BLACK or PAKISTANI or JEWISH or any other group in place of "travellers" - why can you not see how racist this thread is?

I cannot understand why otherise kind, normal, educated, intelligent members of society still think it is acceptable to talk like this about the travelling community.

You should all be ashamed of yourselves.

[HeartsTrumpDiamonds]

OK sorry, apologies to WooWoo and others posting neutral or positive views. Cross posted with many of you

[alwaysinamuckingfuddle]

I wouldn't touch it with a bargepole.

Have lived in an area with a lot of travellers previously. I wouldn't recommend it.

[squalorvictoria]

I realise it makes people uncomfortable to hear "wouldn't touch with a bargepole" in this context, but when you've witnessed a woman squat down and take a piss right outside the main entrance of a large and very busy Tesco, you tend to come over a bit NIMBY.

I'm only being a little facetious.

[Babyroobs]

We have 2 travellers camps close to us.There has been trouble with them intimidating people and thefts. I hate driving by them watching the awful way they treat their horses- big lads racing tiny shetland ponies buckling under their weight. They race horses and carts up the lane in the dark without a thought for anyone's safety. One day I went to my local tesco Express and their was a huge Shire Horse tied up to the rail outside lol .

[ComposHat]

I'm sorry folks. I can't read this thread without my blood boiling.

Insert BLACK or PAKISTANI or JEWISH or any other group in place of "travellers" - why can you not see how racist this thread is?

I cannot understand why otherise kind, normal, educated, intelligent members of society still think it is acceptable to talk like this about the travelling community.

I don't think that really a valid comparison, the term 'travellers' doesn't refer to a single ethnic group in this context, but people defined by their mode of living. The term travellers includes, Pavees, English Travellers, New Age Travellers, Romanies and Show-people.

As people who have stressed there have been positive and negative experiences and I suspect that they . There is a spotless, beautifully landscaped travellers site very close to my parents on which there is never a wiff of bother.

When working for a Youth Offending Team, I had to deal with the consequences of a really bad site primarily occupied by Irish Travellers. The site itself was rancid, theft was pretty much a way of life (anything that wasn't nailed down in local people's front gardens was nicked, pets included as was anything brass, copper or lead, with the more enterprising turning their hands to a bit of car theft on the side.

[Sleepyhoglet]

I wouldn't go there OP.

It isn't really racist in my opinion, although I do understand travellers do consider themselves a race. Is about circumstances of living. Would it be racist to be put off buying a house because it backs onto a council estate? Travellers are notorious for being work shy and somewhat opinionated. I know from personal experience that their attitudes to a lot of things differ from mainstream society. For example the way in which I've seen many children being withdrawn from school. Some schools need special mediators as well.

[Sleepyhoglet]

Cross post with compos. Compos you said it so much better than me as well!

[Tubemole1]

Depends on the neighbours.

IMHO is does not matter that they are travellers. When checking out a new place wherever it may be it makes sense to knock on a few doors locally to find out what the neighbourhood is like.

If you love the house, do the research before pursuing it.

[raisah]

There is one about a quarter of a mile away from me and the road that it's on has had cctv fitted & regular police patrols. The residents of that particular road have formed a group to monitor & patrol their property.

I would visit the road at different times of the day/night to see what it is like, are there large groups hanging around drinking / anti social behaviour etc.
The problems in the camp near me has been the usual theft, dv, assault but recently a murder.

Another issue is that the travellers are buying derelict land turning them into sites & these smaller camps are causing the problems. They are not council owned so can't be regulated in the same way.

Where I live is fine as there are settled travellers & they are a very private community so don't mix with outsiders. The main issue in my road is that the traveller kids like to race their quad bikes up & down the road so the noise is horrendous. I was knocked off the pavement once walking with my dc & the buggy, I moved the buggy out of the way but I was too slow and they just rode past me without a glance backwards.

[Bunnygotwhacked]

The one we used to live near say 10 min walk from our house was fine other than getting the scrap guys come round say twice a month peoples perception of them was much worse then they are.
In my admittedly very limited experience they like most people don't tend to shit where they eat settled community tend to be fine as they don't want trouble either.
It's the travelling travelers that people tend to be more wary of but again IME other than rubbish being left behind i have never personally had a bad experience.
I would do the above of going and having a look round the area at different times also if you have children going to talk to the mums from the local schools to see if there children have a negative impact on the school environment again never something i have experienced personally but something that would cross my mind

[ll31]

I wouldn't buy tbh,because if site enlarges unofficially which is quite likely, then you may have difficulties, as described below.

If you are concerned about seeming racist have a look at 3 or 4 nearest traveller sites to you and make your decision based on that, ie on evidence not anecdote.

[Runningchick123]

Didn't the OP say that the council was trying to extend the site for some affordable housing? If they are putting affordable housing on the site next to the travellers then house prices are likely to rise as any development in an area is good.
I find the attitude towards travellers on this thread very distasteful. People have focused on crime which insinuates that the most travellers are criminals. The OP has already stated that the crime stats for the area don't indicate any increased crime in the area.
I can understand concerns about schooling, as traveller children (who do travel) will naturally come and go during the school year which can disrupt the education of others in the class due to the teacher havng to find out where the new children are up to with their learning on a continuous basis. I would have the same concern about a school next to a major family homeless unit for the same reasons.

Instead of looking on the Internet for statistics what the OP should do is go and find out what the local community is like, not just the traveller site, but schools, shops, community spirit, transport links, social housing, leisure facilities.

Has anybody thought for one moment what it must feel like to be a traveller? Stigma and prejudice springs to my mind and it must be quite hard to feel part of a community when you are aware that people hold such views about you and your family and have no understanding of why you choose to travel.

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

Sorry but, I agree with Compos. I'm not from this country originally. I didn't know what a traveler was before I came here. I know there are preconceptions about them, which people from here seem to be embarrassed to have. However, I don't understand why it's un-PC to notice the facts. There are traveler sites south of our town, and to a one they are tips. Massive piles of rubbish everywhere, no effort at all to bring it to the actual tip as what, it's against their way of life? They want the freedom of moving around and having other people clean up after them?

People can throw out the argument that no way would I say this about an ethnic group, but that makes no sense at all. Of COURSE I wouldn't say it about black people/ jewish people/ etc because those groups are all part of our society, and the suggestion that they're comparable is insulting. Travelers live outside the society we have in the UK- they don't want to live in a house, they don't want to pay taxes, they claim this is their heritage and people should accept it. Well, all of these services we get come from our tax money- land, income, council, etc. As a community, they do none of these things. (Yes, again, a few do hold down jobs, and even have houses, but I'm obviously not speaking about them)

I don't see why any person in the process of purchasing a house would do so knowing that a traveler site is growing nearby.

[Branleuse]

maybe go and talk to the other neighbours?