The Conservatives said they would change the law to end a “two-tier planning system”, which they claim is to blame for a rise in unauthorised traveller caravans.

Essex MP James Cleverly, who is Shadow Housing Secretary, said communities were “being abandoned” by the current approach and “forced to tolerate lawbreaking on their doorsteps”.

The government said recent changes to planning guidelines showed it was “cracking down on illegal traveller sites” and it was “completely misleading to suggest otherwise”.

Cliff Codona, chair of the National Travellers’ Action Group, said travellers felt pushed into “breaking the law” because the planning system was “like a big dagger in their back”.

He said not enough new sites for caravans were approved, and planning applications from Gypsies and travellers were stopped “dead in their tracks”.

Friends, Families & Travellers – a charity supporting the Gypsy, Romany and traveller communities – said: “Instead of telling people where they can’t go, it’d be more helpful to tell people where they can go.”

BBC analysis of data from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government found councils across England reported 73% more unauthorised traveller caravans in January 2026 compared to January 2020.

The numbers rose from 2,860 to 4,950.

The summer count of caravans, carried out each July, saw a 44% rise between 2019 and 2025, from 3,113 to 4,471.

The Conservatives said leaving the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – a policy the party first announced in October – would allow them to tighten planning laws and reduce the number of caravans installed without permission.

Cleverly, whose Braintree constituency saw a caravan site built over a weekend in May allegedly without permission, accused Labour ministers of “turning a blind eye” to the issue.

He added: “A small minority of travellers are breaking the rules, and all too often, it is going unpunished.

“This cannot be allowed to continue.”

His party claimed the planning system encouraged Gypsies and travellers to “build first, apply for planning permission later”.

The public’s “confidence that planning rules apply equally to everyone” had been “significantly eroded”, it claimed.

After leaving the ECHR, the Conservatives said they would amend the Town and Country Planning Act if elected, so that “no retrospective planning application may be made for a material change of use of land to a residential caravan site”.

They argued that would mean “anyone who wants to live on land in a caravan must always get permission first”.

Planning appeal rules would also be changed to stop “occupiers from achieving through the appeal system what is denied through the application route”.

A new statutory duty would be imposed on local councils to start enforcement action within 28 days of identifying an unauthorised residential caravan site.

The government said the National Planning Policy Framework, which was updated yesterday, included a “strengthened approach to intentional unauthorised development”.

Since April, sites in Hertfordshire, Essex, Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and elsewhere have been transformed into caravan parks without permission.

A site in Wickford, south Essex, was expanded between 2018 and 2022.

In 2024, the planning inspector gave 16 months for most of the caravans and hardstanding on one site to be removed.

That deadline passed in July last year, with many of the caravans and infrastructure still on the site.

Basildon Borough Council said it could not comment because doing so “could prejudice ongoing legal enforcement proceedings”.

Labour said leaving the ECHR would “destroy the partnerships we rely on to remove those who arrive here illegally, making it harder to deport illegal migrants” and was “utter nonsense from the Conservatives”.

“The Tories left our planning system in a mess,” they added.

“Not only has this Labour government put in place incredibly strong safeguards for developments in the green belt, we are also ensuring that there is a clearer and more consistent approach to planning, helping to deliver the housing our country desperately needs.”

Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s home affairs spokesperson, said the Conservatives’ announcement was “laughable considering they had 14 years in government to deal with traveller sites and failed”.

Yusuf added: “Under a Reform UK Government, we will give police the powers to remove unauthorised encampments immediately, seize vehicles and make arrests, while cracking down on fly-tipping and ending two-tier treatment in planning law.”

The BBC also approached the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.

Responding to the Conservatives’ proposals, Friends, Families & Travellers said: “After more than three decades of trying ‘punishment over provision’, it is probably time to try something new, unless positive change isn’t really what this is all about.

“Sadly, after decades and decades of removing safe stopping places and failing to build new sites, the problem is that there’s simply nowhere else for families to go.

“Everyone should be able to live in peace and without fear of the government coming down on them for simply having nowhere else to go – again.”

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said councils “must ensure they meet the needs of communities in their area”.

A spokesperson added that councils had “strong powers to tackle these, including working closely with the police and taking court action”.

“Our new planning rules explicitly tackle any potential environmental damage and transport impacts, and make it harder for people to get retrospective permission for developments that were built without approval.”

Do you have a story suggestion for Essex? Contact us below.

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, external, Instagram, external and X, external.