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County council denies secret traveller plans
12:00am Sunday 7th September 2008
Comments (3)ESSEX County Council has denied it has "secret" plans to remove about 100 traveller children from parents in the event of an eviction at Dale Farm in Crays Hill.
Campaigners for the huge unauthorised site near Billericay claim a County Hall whistleblower has revealed to them the secret plan's existence.
They say they have been warned it involves removing all children from Dale Farm before heavy machinery goes in to bulldoze the camp, should a Court of Appeal judge give the green light to evictions in December.
A county council spokeswoman said: "There is no secret plan to sieze children from Dale Farm. The county council does not sieze children. We cannot comment further until we have seen the evidence they claim to have of this plan."
The Gypsy Council is holding an emergency meeting on Tuesday to discuss the threat.
FULL STORY IN MONDAY'S ECHO
Your Say YourEcho
evilc, essex says...
7:34pm Sat 6 Sep 08
Can you begin to imagine the public outcry if a raid took place and the kids were free to run wild (as they do anyway)but this time in the official care of the Police or Baliffs.
vangebasildon, Vange says...
10:19pm Sat 6 Sep 08
Essex County Council have a duty to undertake an assessment of any child in need and if required social services would fund temp accommadation costs pending an assessment rather that place a child in care. This would be the same for any child not just the Dale Farm children.
Similar assessments would be undertaken for any elderly also
Dare l say that if as we are led to believe that most of the families are single parents and no men reside at the site to provide support to thier children we can expect alot of assessments, thank god l dont work for Essex SSD
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thelonewhinger, benfleet says...
3:55pm Sat 6 Sep 08
Surely these "gentle people" would not wish to use children as human shields? If they do then is it not natural that a caring authority would wish to remove them from harm's way?