Gypsies and Travellers (Hertfordshire)

My hon. Friend makes an eloquent and important point, which underlines my point. Increasing authorised sites does not necessarily reduce the numbers. Indeed, the evidence that he presented suggests that there was an increase in the number of authorised developments. One has to ask why. On the issue of demand, according to the latest figures from the East of England regional assembly, there were no unauthorised sites in my constituency, which covers two district councils—Dacorum borough council and Three Rivers district council—in January 2006. There certainly had been an unauthorised development in my constituency a few months before, at Cow Roast, but if the argument is, ““Well, we need more authorised sites to deal with the unauthorised developments that we currently have,”” the answer is that we do not currently have any in the area.