page_title: Halting site
section_title: Kent County pilot Authorised Caravan Park
hierarchical_section_title: Halting site / History of Halting Sites / Kent County pilot Authorised Caravan Park
caption_attribution_description: English: The Greensand Way turns on Chart Road The long distance path heads left down Hillcrest towards the A28 Footbridge. It also heads down Chart Road towards Great Chart. In the background is Great Chart's village sign.
context_page_description: A halting site is purpose-built residential accommodation for Travellers provided by a local municipal authority. The halting site has an individual bay for each family unit with a full range of services provided in a small structure on each bay.
context_section_description: The first Traveller caravan park resembling what today is called a halting site was in Kent in England. It mainly came about as a result of changes in social policy in Britain. The 1942 report  Social Insurance and Allied Services  (also known as the Beveridge Report) served as the basis for the post-World War II welfare state put in place by the Labour government elected in 1945. The Beveridge Report identified five "Giant Evils" in society: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease.
  A pilot scheme was introduced in Kent County in 1951 to provide a planned and equipped area for gypsies and travellers to reside instead of the unsuitable winter camping sites used previously. The site, called Chilmington Gypsy and Traveller Site, was developed approximately a mile from the village of Great Chart, which is located 2 miles (3.2 km) from the town of Ashford in Kent.
  The features of Chilmington Site included 
  Electricity
  Halting bays for 12 caravans
  Supply of clean, potable water piped in from the mains
  Toilets and bathing facilities for each family unit
  An area of pasture and stables for horses
  Storage sheds
  Parking area for motorised vehicles
  drainage infrastructure, to prevent accumulation of surface runoff
  Sanitary plumbing for controlled expulsion of effluent waste from the residences and the stables
  Tarmacadamed and concrete surfaces
  Security in the form of a stout perimeter fence ensuring access and exit was contained to one point
  One of the residents was appointed as caretaker of the site
  On conclusion of the Chilmington Site pilot scheme the British Ministry of Housing and Local Government adopted as policy the construction of purpose-build Gypsy and Traveller Sites in every municipal area in the country. The policy was promoted as an alternative to the ad hoc approach used hitherto of officials "moving people off one unauthorised site and leaving them to find another one". Chilmington Gypsy Site has expanded over the intervening decades in line with the expansion of Ashford itself.
caption: Chart Road, Great Chart village, outside Ashford town in Kent, England
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