Five year period during which local housing authorities in Wales must reassess accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers extended by a year

New statutory instrument extends normal five-year review period on account of the impacts of coronavirus on communities and local housing authority administration

New regulations have been issued in Wales that provide for a one-off extension of the five-year period during which local housing authorities in Wales must reassess the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in their area.

In force from 18 March 2021, the Assessment of Accommodation Needs of Gypsies and Travellers (Extension of Review Period) (Wales) (Coronavirus) Order 2021 (SI.No.340/2021) amends section 101(3) of the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 - that sets out the meaning of the ‘review period’ during which a local housing authority is required to make provision for the assessment of the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers residing in or resorting to its area - to extend the normal five year period by one year until 24 February 2022 and, thereafter, to revert back to the five-yearly review period.

NB - the first review period under section 101(3)(a) of the Act was the period from 25 February 2015 to 24 February 2016 and, under section 101(3)(b), all subsequent assessments were to take place during each subsequent period of five years. The one year extension to the review period, which otherwise would have come to an end on 24 February 2021, is in response to the impacts of coronavirus on communities and local housing authority administration.

SI.No.340/2021 is available from legislation.gov.uk