CONNORS v. THE UNITED KINGDOM JUDGMENT 23 safeguards. In addition to the remedy of judicial review, occupiers had, since 2000, a right of action under the Human Rights Act 1998, pursuant to which the courts can consider directly claims of violation of the Convention (see, for example, Somerset County Council v. Isaacs, paragraphs 47-50 above). 78. While they accepted that the statutory protection from eviction which the applicant enjoyed in respect of the plot was more limited than if his caravan had been on a site other than one provided by a local authority for gypsy accommodation, the Government emphasised that statutory regulation of housing was a matter of some complexity and within the area in which courts should defer to the decision of the democratically elected legislature. A wide margin of appreciation applied equally to this situation as it did in the planning context (see Chapman v. the United Kingdom, cited above, § 92). They argued that the limited degree of protection was justified with regard to the differing aims of the statutory schemes concerned. Regarding the provision for gypsies, it had to be recalled that the 1968 Act had sought to remedy the grave shortage of sites for gypsies who led a nomadic lifestyle by placing a duty on local authorities to provide such sites. By 1994, the Act was found to have served its purpose as far as it could reasonably be expected to, with local authority sites providing the largest contribution to the overall accommodation needs of gypsies. Policy then changed its emphasis to encouraging gypsies to promote their own sites via the planning process. The authorities were keeping the situation under review, as seen in the independent reports issued in October 2002 and July 2003, which did not reveal that the exemption posed any problems in practice in the operation of local authority gypsy sites. It was apparent in the latter report that local authorities used their powers of eviction sparingly and as a sanction of last resort. It remained however an important management tool. 79. Notwithstanding shifts in gypsy habits, the existing local authority supply of sites remained an essential component of the Government’s strategy of ensuring an adequate level of provision for gypsies and the policy of the legislation was to maintain and safeguard that distinct supply. Thus the special regime of tenure applicable to local authority gypsy sites reflected the need to ensure that local authorities were able to operate their gypsy sites in a flexible way that met the special accommodation needs of gypsies consistent with their nomadic lifestyle. To require local authorities to justify in court their management decisions in relation to individual occupiers would add significantly to their administrative burden, increasing costs and licence fees and would reduce the flexibility intended by the framework. The domestic courts examining the cases of Isaacs and Smith concluded, in light of the evidence submitted, that there remained objective justification for current legislative arrangements on local authority gypsy sites (see paragraphs 47-53 above). The issues raised in the recent reports