The Best Value review of encampments examines the council's activity with regards to unauthorised encampments and aims to identify how economic and efficient the service is and to discover to what extent it meets the needs of its stakeholders.

The service has strong links with the community and requires close working with other partner agencies.

There is no mandatory duty on the local authority to provide sites for Travellers or to evict encampments. However, Northampton Borough Council, in line with relevant legislation and Home Office guidance, does take on the responsibility for Travellers in its area and is keen to develop a strategy which allows both the settled community and the Traveller community to live together within its borough.

The Best Value review team were of the opinion that currently officers do provide a good service with respect to unauthorised encampments. The council has had considerable success in reducing the numbers of unauthorised encampments over the last three years and the number of complaints has fallen. Northampton Borough Council is already recognised as an example of good practice by the Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions and the multi-agency working and the protocols agreed with the police are evidence of the efforts which has been focussed [sic] on Traveller issues in recent years.

It is recognised, however, that the current situation in Northampton is unsatisfactory. The cost of continually moving on encampments is borne by the local authority, residents, businesses and the Travellers. Unauthorised encampments receive high profile attention from the media and provoke a strong public and political reaction.

What does seem clear to the review team is that Best Value does not support the non-toleration of unauthorised encampments. The costs of eviction will continue to rise if alternatives to the cycle of evictions within the town are not pursued.

In carrying out the review, the review team have looked at the four Cs – challenge, compare, consult, compete. A large proportion of the review period was focused on the consultation element and a considerable amount of feedback was obtained from a wide range of stakeholders regarding the current service and ways in which improvements could be made.