'Why should I live by Gypsies?'

By Helen Grady
Producer, Beyond Westminster

Every year millions of pounds are spent by local councils on evicting Gypsies and travellers from illegal camp sites. The government thinks the answer is to create more authorised sites, but who should decide where they go?

Len Gridley has some problems with his neighbours. The first is that there are 1,000 of them. The second is that they have set up what has become Europe's biggest illegal traveller site next to his back garden.

"All I want is for the council to clear the site," said Mr Gridley as he showed the 8ft fence he has fitted to separate his garden from his neighbours' homes.

"Who wants to live next to a Gypsy and traveller site? My house used to be worth £500,000 and now it's worth £150,000. No one wants to live here. People have sold up at a loss just to get away."

The site is in Cray's Hill, a picturesque village in the Essex countryside, which has become the focus of a planning row that is likely to cost the local council £3m.

Illegal settlement

The site backing onto Mr Gridley's bungalow is known as Dale Farm. It is owned by Gypsies and Irish Travellers, some of whom have been living there since the 1970s.

Grattan Puxon, a spokesman for the Dale Farm Residents, said the site expanded after some families bought an old scrap yard adjoining the original site. "As the families got bigger, they believed it was a quite a reasonable idea to clean up the old scrap yard and move onto it," he explained.

But only half of the Dale Farm site has planning permission and more than 400 people are facing eviction following a ruling by the Law Lords in May.

Basildon District Council, has spent almost £1m on the legal battle to evict the Travellers and set aside another £2m to pay for bailiffs to clear the illegal section of the site.

Council leader Tony Ball said it was worth the cost, adding "It's quite clear - they are living on green belt land without planning permission. UK law says that site has to be restored to green belt. What price upholding the law? The alternative is anarchy."

But families at Dale Farm claim they have nowhere else to go. And, although they are travellers by birth, they say they need a base.

"I don't know how to read or write," said Jean Sheridan, a mother-of-four. "I've been brung up like a proper traveller - travelling from site to site and on the roads constantly, so I never got the chance to go to school and get an education.

"This is somewhere for us to live, plus somewhere for us to get our kids looked after in the lines of doctors and dentists and education and things like that."

"I'd be happy to move if they could find us another site," added a neighbour, who asked not to be named. "But nobody wants us, so where are they going to put us?"

Political dilemma

That is a dilemma politicians have been grappling with for decades. So far, a solution seems elusive. Although most Gypsies and travellers live in authorised sites, it still costs councils in England at least £18m a year to evict people from illegal sites.

The government thinks the best way to cut these costs is to create more authorised sites and is offering councils £32m each year in grants for these sites.

There is some evidence to suggest this approach could work. Kent has 17 council-run sites across the county and has slashed its eviction costs by 80%.

But other local authorities have proved reluctant even to identify Gypsy and traveller sites, never mind creating council-run ones.

In England, each region must agree how many sites each local council will set aside for Gypsies and travellers in a document called the Regional Spatial Strategy.

However, some councils are threatening to take legal action rather than agreeing, even in principle, to provide what they see as "more than their fair share."

Candy Sheridan, a Liberal Democrat councillor in North Norfolk and a member of an Irish Traveller family, said a big part of the problem is that even authorised sites are unpopular with the settled community.

"There is no ideal site," said Ms Sheridan. "I sit on a planning committee and whenever the word Gypsy or traveller comes in, you get hundreds of people coming to public meetings and everybody is goaded up to say no to planning permission.

"Councillors who have signed up to creating new sites have lost their seats. What you have to do is take the responsibility away from local politicians."

At the moment, even though councils must assess the housing needs of Gypsies and travellers and have a strategy for meeting those needs, there is no legal duty to provide sites.

Labour MP Clive Betts, a member of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee, thinks that should change.

He told the BBC: "I think a lot of local authorities would welcome a statutory duty to have to do something because at least then they can go to their residents and say, 'we have to do something, let's find the best sites'."

Extra sites

But shadow local government spokesman Bob Neil said such decisions should be made at a local level and that the Conservatives would scrap the Regional Spatial Strategy.

Meanwhile Basildon District Council is advertising for bailiffs to evict the illegal Dale Farm residents and councillors are resisting calls to provide an extra 60 Gypsy and traveller pitches as part of the Regional Spatial Strategy.

Said Coun Ball: "If every authority in the country took an additional seven pitches that would deal with the demand that's out there at the moment.

"We would take seven extra pitches. But it is inequitable that, while Basildon already provides a 100, some are not providing any."

is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 1 August at 1100 BST. Or listen again via the BBC
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Should Gypsies and travellers be housed on official sites funded by the taxpayer? Who should decide where they go - councils or Central Government? Are you a traveller? Do you live near an authorised site for travellers or an illegal camp? Send us your comments by filling in the form below.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/politics/8171273.stm

Published: 2009/08/01 01:26:51 GMT

Standing up for the gypsies

The largest illegal travellers' camp in Britain has found a divine ally in its survival battle. Jerome Taylor reports

Friday, 15 May 2009

To say that Marianne McCarthy is house-proud would be something of an understatement. The dainty gravel garden outside her two bedroom prefab is immaculately kept, boasting two freshly painted miniature cannons and a host of cheerful garden gnomes to greet her visitors. Step through her front door and the inside of the house is spotless. A gleaming white kitchen with clear plastic stools leads into a sparse but welcoming sitting room where a simple crucifix, two chandeliers and an embroidered "God Bless Home" sign are the room's only adornments.

It's a far cry from what outsiders might expect the 68-year-old widow's home to look like. "Most people think this area will be filthy, with rubbish and sewage and everything," she says. "They think we're dangerous and that you have to come with bullet-proof vests. We've had to put up with all sort of accusations."

Mrs McCarthy expects people to have a negative perception of her modest dwelling because the "estate" on which she lives, Dale Farm, where she has called home for the past seven years, is the largest illegal gypsy site in the country.

(MORE)

UK gypsies speak of need to unite

UK, 16.6.2008, 15:03, (Roma Daily News)

Faced with a rising tide of racism better unity is needed within the Romany movement in Britain, influential voices were heard to say this week.

Meeting at Dale Farm, the UK's largest Gypsy township still under siege by a hostile local authority, newly-elected members of the Gypsy Council spoke (10 June) of their wish to help a achieve a common front.

"I would like to see the revived Gypsy Council and the Federation working together," said John Johnson, chair of the Southern England Romany Gypsy & Irish Traveller Network, following his co-option as a committee member.

Joe Jones, another leading federation spokesman went further, suggesting that the GC and the national Federation, which links some 56 local groups, could agree to merge. "The Gypsy Council has been in decline but it has the brand name," said Richard Sheridan, newly elected president. "We at Dale Farm need everyone's support and this is the best place for us to make a start towards real unity."

The meeting resolved unanimously that members of the Federation should be invited to attend and participate in the next Gypsy Council session, at Greenwich University in July. Katie Goldsmith, of the Gypsy and Traveller Alliance Youth Division, co-opted to help form a new youth section at Dale Farm, said she believed young people could spearheard the movement, providing street drama at protest events.

Johnson said it was an outrage that a local MP should lead a 200-strong demonstration against a Travellers' site in Basingstoke, stirring up yet more race hatred against a minority. This is where we needed to unite and act together, Johnson stressed.

Judge stops demolition of Essex Travellers site

Jo Siedlecka

More than 50 Gypsy and Traveller families in Essex won a High Court fight on Friday, to stop the local council from evicting them.

The families bought the green belt land at Dale Farm, Billericay and Five Acres Farm, Wickford, about ten years ago. It had previously been derelict or used for storing scrap metal. The families pay council taxes and have gradually built up semi-permanent homes there. But they do not have planning permission.

Basildon District Council has been trying to evict them for several years. Last December, the council decided to use section 178 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990, to enter the land, evict the residents and demolish their dwellings. This would have left them homeless, and the council would not have been able to offer alternative accommodation.

In a 26-page judgment, Mr Justice Collins said the eviction order could not stand and he ordered more time to investigate concerns on the needs and welfare of the families. He drew attention to the high degree of prejudice faced by Gypsies and Travellers and the discrimination they have suffered at the hands of local authorities. (There has also been a very one-side campaign in the local press and the Daily Mail). Judge Collins said sick and vulnerable persons, and children attending school had not been given proper, individual consideration, nor had anti-racist legislation been fully complied with. Any future decisions by the Basildon council would have to be based on these and other considerations, he said.

The judge warned the residents they would not be able to stay on the sites permanently, but said: "I think that the approach has been that the sites should be cleared, rather than a consideration of whether there are any individual families whose circumstances are such that in their individual cases eviction would be disproportionate."

Judge Collins gave the council permission to appeal against his decision, saying the case raised "important points" over what appeared to be the "insoluble problem" of providing sites for Gypsies and Travellers.

Traveller spokesman Grattan Puxon said in a statement that the ruling "represents a major legal victory for Britain's long harassed Gypsies and Travellers, many of whom have in recent years seen their homes mercilessly bulldozed. "

"This is a wake-up call to all councils," said Dr Keith Lomax, the solicitor representing Dale Farm's 132 households, comprising chalets, mobile-homes and caravans. "Those that don't provide legal living space will find they can't rely on enforcement powers."

A meeting of the Gypsy Council has been convened for 10 June at Dale Farm to consider the implications of the judgment.

Father John Glynn, Parish Priest at Our Lady of Good Council in Wickford, told ICN last night: "This judgment is a welcome stay of execution. The great thing is that it draws attention to the situation of these individual families. I hope this will now lead to a proper dialogue between all the parties."

Father John said the local Churches, have offered to help bring the sides together for talks.

On Friday, the Bishop of Brentwood, Bishop Thomas McMahon, the Anglican Bishop of Chelmsford, Bishop John Gladwin, and other Catholic and Church of England clergy visited Dale Farm, where a small cabin was opened recently to be used as a chapel and community centre.


Source: Roma News Service/ICN

© Independent Catholic News 2008

Essex: chapel, community centre opened at beleaguered Gypsy camp

A small community centre and chapel was officially opened at Dale Farm Traveller and Gypsy camp near Crays Hill in Essex on Saturday.

The log cabin, which has been named after St Christopher, one of the patron saints of travelling people, will be used for community meetings, health projects, IT and literacy for children and a chapel for the site's Catholics. It was built with a £9,894 government youth grant fund from the Equality Council

The building was blessed by Father John Glynn of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Wickford. There were also speeches by Lib Dem peer Lord Avebury, Clive Mardner, director of the Equality Council, who sponsored the project, and site spokesman Richard Sheridan, Gypsy Council president.

The opening of the community centre has aroused controversy locally, and a hostile campaign in the Daily Mail. While the Gypsies and Travellers have bought the agricultural land at Dale Farm, and lived there for many years, Secretary of State Ruth Kelly has upheld Basildon's decision to evict the community. This Friday (9 May) Judge Collins is to issue his long delayed ruling in the judicial review in the British High Court into Basildon's policy towards some two hundred "illegal" families which it refuses to accommodate.

Eviction specialists Constant & Co., whose bailiffs have been accused of 'wanton destruction,' including the burning and looting of caravans during removal operations, are already believed to be planning to bid for the £2 million demolition of the Dale Farm township.

Lord Avebury said: "The bulldozing of Dale Farm would be a disaster." Richard Sheridan said: "If we are evicted it will be a traumatic experience for all the families who have nowhere to go."

Billericay MP John Baron has urged the National Lottery to stop funding the equality council because he claims it is "biased to travellers".

Essex Racial Equality Council, which sponsored the centre, has been threatened with a cut off of funding by Lord Haddingfield. His opposite number on Basildon council, Malcolm Buckley, has already ended ties with racial equality workers whom he accuses of a bias in favour of Gypsies.

Their leader, Clive Marden, said at the ceremony that he did not care what Tory MP John Baron said, he was proud to be involved with the Dale Farm project, which was going to benefit so many children and young people. "I'm happy to take the flak," Marden commented.

Next week, the Bishop of Brentwood, the Bishop of Chelmsford, and other Catholic and Church of England clergy will be paying their own visit to Saint Christopher's.

Source: Roma News Service

© Independent Catholic News 2008