Official Statistics

Count of Traveller Caravans, July 2025: England

Published 11 December 2025

Applies to England

All comparisons refer to year-on-year changes to reflect the overall trend rather than seasonal fluctuations. For this statistical release (July 2025), comparisons have been made against data collected in July 2024.

Release date: 11 December 2025
Date of next release: June 2026 (provisional) - to be confirmed, subject to outcome of consultation
Contact: travellercaravancountform@communities.gov.uk (Responsible Statistician: Katherine Wilmot)
Media enquiries: NewsDesk@communities.gov.uk

1. In this release:

• Overall, the number of traveller caravans has increased since the last July count in 2024, continuing the long-term trend observed over previous counts. The total number of traveller caravans in England on the count date in July 2025 was 28,589, an increase of 1,152 (4%) in comparison with the 27,437 caravans reported in the July 2024 count.
• The growth in number of caravans since the July 2024 count has been led mainly by a rise in the number of private caravans (with permanent planning permission). This has resulted in an increase in the total authorised caravans, despite a decrease in socially rented caravans.
• The number of caravans on authorised privately funded sites was 17,858, an increase of 878 (5%) from the 16,980 recorded in the July 2024 count.
• The number of caravans on authorised socially rented sites was 6,267, a decrease of 174 (3%) since the July 2024 count.
• Overall, the July 2025 count indicated that 84% of traveller caravans in England were on authorised land and that 16% were on unauthorised land.
• There were 4,464 unauthorised caravans reported in the July 2025 count, an increase of 448 (11%) since July 2024. Of these, 3,880 were reported on unauthorised developments on land owned by travellers, an increase of 677 (21%), and 584 were on unauthorised encampments on land not owned by travellers, a decrease of 229 caravans (28%).

2. Introduction

This statistical release presents official statistics on the count of traveller caravans in England. The count is carried out to provide local data on the number and seasonal movement of caravans and trends over time.

This publication is compiled from information submitted by local authorities in England. Local authorities carry out the count of caravans on traveller sites twice a year, in January and July, providing a snapshot of the number of caravans on the day of the count. Information is collected about caravans on authorised socially rented sites, authorised privately funded sites, unauthorised developments (sites on land owned by travellers for which planning permission has not been granted) and unauthorised encampments (sites on land not owned by travellers and which do not have planning permission).

The traveller caravan count covers data on the number of caravans and traveller sites in England; it does not cover the number of occupants residing in these caravans or caravan sites, or the potential drivers for any observed change.

The count takes place twice a year to reflect winter residence and summer travelling trends. All comparisons refer to year-on-year changes in order that changes between counts reflect the overall trend rather than seasonal fluctuations. For this statistical release (July 2025), comparisons have been made against July 2024.

The information in this release is based on data returned to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government by local authorities in England. Users should note that where updated data for previous counts is received, revisions will be made to figures from previous counts in the most recent publication only. This release presents current best estimates on the number of traveller caravans in England for the most recent as well as previous counts; the accompanying tables published alongside this release should be used for historic comparisons.

Further information is given in five accompanying live tables.

2.1 Consultation

We are currently consulting on the frequency and scope of the Traveller Caravan Count data collection. The consultation is open until 24 December 2025. For more information and to share your views, please go to Traveller caravan count statistics - GOV.UK

3. Count of Traveller Caravans

Local authorities carried out the July 2025 count on or around 17 July 2025. Aggregated totals by site type are presented in Table 1 below, and comparative figures from the previous count are presented in Table 2. At the time of the July 2025 count, the total number of traveller caravans in England was 28,589. Of these 6,267 (22%) were on socially rented sites; 17,858 (62%) were on privately funded sites; 3,880 (14%) were unauthorised developments on land owned by travellers; and 584 (2%) were unauthorised encampments on land not owned by travellers. This information is also illustrated in Figure 1 below and in accompanying Live Table 1. The next count of new affordable residential pitches would typically take place as part of the July 2026 count of traveller caravans. However, publication of this data is subject to the outcome of the (November/December 2025) consultation on the Traveller Caravan Count, which is considering, among other things, whether this information should be collected as part of a different data collection as well as the frequency of the count. It should be noted that the reported increase in unauthorised developments is due in part to improved reporting in this category; data providers are encouraged to report the excess caravans on sites with planning permission as unauthorised developments where the planning permission has been breached or exceeded.

Table 1: Number of Traveller Caravans in July 2025 by site type, England

	Number of caravans	Percentage (%) of total caravans
Caravans on Authorised sites (with planning permission)	24,125	84.4
Of this: Socially         Rented Caravans	6,267	21.9
Of this: Private         Caravans	17,858	62.5
Of which:                 Temporary                 Planning                 Permission	362	1.3
Of which:                 Permanent                 Planning                 Permission	17,496	61.2
Caravans on Unauthorised Sites (without planning permission)	4,464	15.6
Of this: Caravans         on sites on         Traveller’s own         land	3,880	13.6
Of which:                 Tolerated	1,516	5.3
Of which:                 Not                 Tolerated	2,364	8.3
Of this: Caravans         on sites not on         Traveller’s own         land	584	2.0
Of which:                 Tolerated	233	0.8
Of which:                 Not                 Tolerated	351	1.2
All caravans	28,589	100.0

Table 2: Number of Traveller Caravans in July 2024 and July 2025 by site type, England

	Number of caravans: July 2025 count	Number of caravans: July 2024 count	Difference in number of caravans between collections	Percentage difference in number of caravans between collections (%)
Caravans on Authorised sites (with planning permission)	24,125	23,421	704	3.0
Of this: Socially         Rented Caravans	6,267	6,441	-174	-2.7
Of this: Private         Caravans	17,858	16,980	878	5.2
Of which:                 Temporary                 Planning                 Permission	362	335	27	8.1
Of which:                 Permanent                 Planning                 Permission	17,496	16,645	851	5.1
Caravans on Unauthorised Sites (without planning permission)	4,464	4,016	448	11.2
Of this: Caravans         on sites on         Traveller’s own         land	3,880	3,203	677	21.1
Of which:                 Tolerated	1,516	1,246	270	21.7
Of which:                 Not                 Tolerated	2,364	1,957	407	20.8
Of this: Caravans         on sites not on         Traveller’s own         land	584	813	-229	-28.2
Of which:                 Tolerated	233	551	-318	-57.7
Of which:                 Not                 Tolerated	351	262	89	34.0
All caravans	28,589	27,437	1,152	4.2

The total number of traveller caravans in England has risen from 21,074 in 2015 to 28,589 in July 2025, an increase of 36%. The growth in number of caravans has been led mainly by a rise in the number of private caravans (with permanent planning permission). Figure 1 illustrates that the number of caravans on authorised private sites has increased from 11,448 private caravans recorded in 2015 compared to 17,858 in July 2025.

Figure 1: Number of traveller caravans in England by site type over last 10 July counts (1)

1. Due to National lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Traveller Caravan Count was suspended in July 2020 and January 2021

Figure 2 shows that caravans on authorised private sites accounted for the largest proportion of the total number of caravans across England in July 2025 (62%). Caravans on unauthorised sites accounted for 16% of the total with caravans on authorised socially rented sites accounting for 22%. The underlying figures are included in accompanying Live Table 4.

Figure 2: Proportion of traveller caravans by site type groupings in July 2025 count

4. Geographic distribution

The geographic distribution of traveller caravans varies across England. Map 1 below shows the total number of caravans on authorised sites within each local authority boundary.

The data has been grouped into five categories for the purposes of mapping using the Jenks natural breaks classification method. This method splits the data into intervals based on the natural groupings observed within. The class breaks identified work to minimise the variance or difference between individual cases selected in each group whilst also maximising the variances between each group taken as a whole. Maps created using this method allow trends in the underlying data to be accurately represented, aiding interpretation and further analysis.

As indicated in the key, darker colours represent those local authorities that have reported a higher number of total caravans on authorised sites whereas lighter colours indicate local authorities that have reported lower numbers of caravans.

Map 1: Traveller caravans on authorised sites in England, July 2025

5. Historic data

The traveller caravan count has taken place twice a year since January 1979, with the exception of collections cancelled in July 2020 and January 2021 due to the covid-19 pandemic. Figure 3 below shows how the total number of traveller caravans in England has changed over this period across both summer (July) and winter (January) counts. National totals from each count of the main categories of authorised and unauthorised sites are presented in accompanying Live Table 4. The figures show an increase in the overall total from 8,065 caravans in 1979 to 28,589 in July 2025.

Figure 3: Number of Traveller caravans from 1979 to 2025, England (1)

1. Due to National lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Traveller Caravan Count was suspended in July 2020 and January 2021

6. New Affordable Residential Pitches

As part of the July count, local authorities are required to submit data on the number of new affordable rental pitches constructed since the previous year’s count. The number of new affordable residential pitches in each local authority area in England has been collected since July 2011 (whilst the July 2020 count was cancelled, information on new affordable residential pitches was still collected from local authorities). This has previously been reported to allow such pitches to be included in the calculation of the New Homes Bonus for individual local authorities. Table 3 below shows that, local authorities reported no new affordable residential pitches on socially rented or privately funded sites created between July 2024 and July 2025. Further details are provided in accompanying Live Table 5.

The next count of new affordable residential pitches would typically take place as part of the July 2026 count of traveller caravans. However, publication of this data is subject to the outcome of the (November/December 2025) consultation on the Traveller Caravan Count, which is considering, among other things, whether this information should be collected as part of a different data collection as well as the frequency of the count.

Table 3: Number of New Affordable Residential Pitches by site type, England

Year (1)	Number of socially rented new affordable residential pitches	Number of private new affordable residential pitches	Total number of new affordable residential pitches
2015	162	22	184
2016	27	26	53
2017	41	35	76
2018	44	0	44
2019	57	3	60
2020	0	15	15
2021	2	0	2
2022	0	1	1
2023	9	1	10
2024	24	0	24
2025	0	0	0

1. Policy guidance notes require these pitches to be new affordable residential pitches that met the ‘affordable housing’ definition in the National Planning Policy Framework.

7. Accompanying tables and open data

Accompanying tables are available to download alongside this release. These include:

Table 1: Count of traveller caravans on authorised and unauthorised sites for the last six counts, nationally and by local authority area, based on local authority boundaries as at the time of the count(s);

Table 2: Location and size of traveller sites operated by local authorities and private registered providers in England;

Table 3: Number of Travelling Showpeople caravans on authorised and unauthorised sites for the last six January counts nationally and by local authority area (updated as part of the January count);

Table 4: National totals for the main categories of authorised and unauthorised sites for all counts since January 1979;

Table 5: Count of Traveller Caravans: new affordable residential pitches constructed between July 2024 and July 2025 (updated as part of the July count).

See Statistical releases and accompanying tables for data from previous caravan counts.

8. Technical Notes

Please see the accompanying Technical notes document for further details. Information on Official Statistics is available via the UK Statistics Authority website.
Information about statistics at MHCLG is available via the Department’s website.