Disputes over land use

A complaint against Travellers in the United Kingdom is that of unauthorised Traveller sites being established on privately owned land or on council-owned land not designated for that purpose. Designated sites for Travellers' use are provided by the council, and funds are made available to local authorities for the construction of new sites, as well as the maintenance and extension of existing sites, under the government's "Gypsy and Traveller Sites Grant". However, Travellers also frequently make use of other, non-authorised sites, including public "common land" and private plots including large fields. Travellers claim that there is an under-provision of authorised sites - the Gypsy Council estimates an under-provision amounts to insufficient sites for 3,500 people [13] - and that their use of non-authorised sites as an alternative is therefore unavoidable.
It has been claimed that travellers are sometimes involved in robbery, cons, violence and other delinquent behaviour.[citation needed] An 11 October 2002 Dateline NBC episode found that American Travellers habitually defraud their neighbours, demanding high prices for substandard day labour [14]. A consequent investigation by South Carolina law enforcement resulted in a single conviction for fraud and a handful of truancy violations.
The Georgia Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs issued a press release on March 14, 2007 entitled "Irish Travellers Perpetuate a Tradition of Fraud." [15]
Traveller advocates, along with the Commission for Racial Equality in the UK, counter that Travellers are a distinct ethnic group with an ancient history, and claim that there is no statistical evidence that Traveller presence raises or lowers the local crime rate.
The struggle for equal rights for these transient people led to the passing of the Caravan Sites Act 1968 that for some time safeguarded their rights, lifestyle and culture in the UK. The Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, however, repealed part II of the 1968 act, removing the duty on local authorities in the UK to provide sites for Travellers and giving them the power to close down existing sites.