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Traveller evictions may start before Lords appeal ruling (From Echo)
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Traveller evictions may start before Lords appeal ruling
8:30am Friday 10th April 2009
TRAVELLERS’ bid to appeal to the House of Lords may not stop Basildon Council starting action to evict some of them.
A Lords committee is expected in June to rule whether the Lords can hear the travellers’ appeal against evictions from the Dale Farm, Crays Hill and Hovefields, Wickford.
Until then there is nothing legally to stop the council taking action, though officials are taking a cautious approach.
However, the Echo has learned five plots at Hovefields, Wickford, are not subject to any appeal – making their early removal more likely.
Crays Hill villager Len Gridley, 49, has endured eight years living next to Dale Farm and wants to see the council acting.
He said: “The council should be ready to go. If it waits for the Lords, there will probably be another hearing and a two-year wait.”
Tony Ball, deputy council leader, confirmed preparations were under way to bring in the bailiffs.
EU law means because the Dale Farm evictions will be expensive, the contract must be advertised across Europe, a process which will take at least three months.
However, the Echo understands a smaller eviction at Hovefields might be possible without such a long-winded process.
Mr Ball would not rule this out, but declined to comment further. On Dale Farm, he said the council had decided to wait for a Law Lords decision.
He explained: “The advice from barristers is evicting now would be looked upon very badly by the House of Lords.
“If it then decided to hear the case, it could leave us open to being sued or the travellers being allowed to return. This is a test case about human rights.”
He said the Equality and Human Rights Commission had also made it clear it would not be happy with an eviction before the decision.
He added: “We are aware of the statutory powers the commission also holds.”
Grattan Puxon, travellers’ campaigner, said: “There is an agreement between the lawyers of no action before we know if the case will be heard.
“I would like to think no individual plots would be targeted in the meantime.”
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Your Say YourEcho
EnglishPatriot, Essex/Kent says...
8:58am Fri 10 Apr 09
So why this farce? Why is it every time a judgement is made on this matter, we have to hang about for yet another one? What a joke.
Their time is up. In truth it was up seven years ago. Basildon should have acted then.
This response is the latest in a line of limp-wristed reactions from Basildon, including the incumbent councillors representing the Crouch Ward, who have done nothing.
Just get the bailiffs in and get these scroungers out.
They have had more than their fair share of appeals and wasted millions in public money in terms of being a drain on the local community.
They have destroyed lives and livelihoods, driven out the English gypsies and romanies and created a no-go atmosphere in Crays Hill (and I speak as a former resident who has had a more than significant involvement in this matter).
Grattan Puxon is a character of dubious pedigree and no heed should be paid to anything he says.
The same goes for the dwindling army of do-gooders. Once they get up close they can see exactly what these people are.
Anybody else who has NOT experienced life alongside this bunch of leeches can keep their mealy mouthed pc opinions to themselves.
The only opinions worth hearing here are those based on experience of life in this living hell or those who have witnessed these people at their very worst.
And there are plenty of those among us.
EnglishPatriot, Essex/Kent says...
9:08am Fri 10 Apr 09
Winston (great log-in name, love the 1984 metaphor), the residents of Crays Hill are not entitled to human rights.FACT.
That was self-evident at every farcical appeal and hearing I attended.
Worst thing of all was watching as these people trooped into the hearing room looking bedraggled and woebegone.
I saw people hobbling in with walking sticks who, afterwards in the town square, swung the sticks over their shoulders and strode off to their new-reg Mercs, which they parked without tickets.
Actually hats off to this bunch. They could win an Oscar for their acting skills at hearings and on TV, especially when they put the women in the front line while the men's faces are blanked out. Ever noticed the men skulking around in the background with blacked out faces?
Any documentary made about these people rarely features the men. Hmmmm, wonder why?
They are a sick joke and any last remaining left wing pc loony contingent ought to be forced to spend a week living in Len Gridley's house.
I could relate even more eye witness experiences but I'm sure there are others here who could do the same.
Truth is, most people with more than half a brain cell KNOW what these people are and have enough common sense and observational skills not to need any convincing.
Those who don't are misguided, mad, ignorant or in their pay (and believe me, there are a few of those too).
Fupo, Wickford says...
10:06am Fri 10 Apr 09
deadjim, essex says...
11:49am Fri 10 Apr 09
Could Mr Ball, who must have read the travellers petition to the House of Lords, please explain his statement ?
Maybe the travellers lawyers are trying to argue that enforcement of planning breaches is in conflict with the councils homelessness duty under the Housing Act or is in conflict with the protection of home and family life provisions in European Human Rights Law.
It is difficult to see how the House of Lords will agree to hear this – to do so would be to say that it might be appropriate to set aside planning law enforcement and/or EU HR law is wrong .
In that regard, the Lords will be influenced, as was the Court of Appeal in January ,by the Chapman case heard in Strasburg in 2001, paragraph 102 of which said :
“Where a dwelling has been established without the planning permission which is needed under the national law, there is a conflict of interest between the right of the individual under Article 8 of the Convention to respect for his or her home and the right of others in the community to environmental protection. When considering whether a requirement that the individual leave his or her home is proportionate to the legitimate aim pursued, it is highly relevant whether or not the home was established unlawfully. If the home was lawfully established, this factor would self-evidently be something which would weigh against the legitimacy of requiring the individual to move. Conversely, if the establishment of the home in a particular place was unlawful, the position of the individual objecting to an order to move is less strong. The Court will be slow to grant protection to those who, in conscious defiance of the prohibitions of the law, establish a home on an environmentally protected site. For the Court to do otherwise would be to encourage illegal action to the detriment of the protection of the environmental rights of other people in the community.”
evilc, essex says...
12:27pm Fri 10 Apr 09
At least they might enforce some form of discipline, something which has gone under New labour.
undertaker, crays hill says...
12:46pm Fri 10 Apr 09
Last Poster, Basildon says...
2:16pm Fri 10 Apr 09
evilc wrote:The discipline started to vanish long before This Labour? Government and well you know it! The first wedge driven into the decency of this society was using our police force for political purposes during the miner's strike. Please try and comment on the problem of these scroungers and stop turning it all into an advert for your Party!
Why don't we just give up and allow the Law breakers to rule!
At least they might enforce some form of discipline, something which has gone under New labour.
However, I do like "Undertaker's" idea. That would be pretty to watch!
Soozie, Southend on sea says...
6:57pm Fri 10 Apr 09
Why shouldn't he stand up for the Crays Hill folk and fight for their rights band then bill the council?
Is that a daft idea?
midnight warrior, wickford says...
12:02am Sun 12 Apr 09
deadjim, essex says...
8:40am Sun 12 Apr 09
Soozie wrote:Basildon council employed a strong legal team to “stand up for them” at the Court of Appeal and I’m sure they will again if this goes any further ; they are very skilled and experienced people - the best in the business - and I’d back them to win against any opposition.
deadjim seems to have some good knowledge which may be worth exploiting in a very good way. Why shouldn't he stand up for the Crays Hill folk and fight for their rights band then bill the council? Is that a daft idea?
Standing up for Crays Hill people is not quite the same thing though.
Most people there understand and support what the Council is doing but they need urgent help .
The council is insistent that the travellers must move to other districts but Crays Hill folk cannot understand why the government or the council hasn’t already found temporary space until pitches in other districts become available.
Len Gridley in particular deserves everyone’s support - his resilience under extreme provocation continues to be an inspiration .
There are lots of ways, with a little effort, people can and should “stand up” make a difference.
An understanding of our laws and political processes helps - these take a little time to work out but it’s not rocket science – and most political meetings whether parish, district ,county ,regional and parliamentary are open to the public as are the courts .
There have been plenty of opportunities on the traveller issue for anyone to voice their views at public consultations and at every level, those we elect must answer our reasonable questions.
Newspapers these days provide people with an instant means of expressing their views to a world-wide audience via these sorts of discussion threads.
We don’t if anyone takes any notice of them but they probably do .
For travellers spokespeople, always keen to talk things up for those they represent and undermine those who oppose them, newspapers are brilliant for cheap propaganda but blogs are an opportunity to set out alternative views and raise a flag for people like Len Gridley .
Soozie, Southend on sea says...
6:28pm Wed 15 Apr 09
Dale Farm – no legal reason for the council not to start making eviction plans
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Winston Smith, Airstrip One. Oceania. says...
8:55am Fri 10 Apr 09
What about the human rights of the people of Crays Hill and Wickford who have had to suffer years of abuse and worse from theses caravan utilising nomadic travellers?