8:30am Friday 10th April 2009
By Jon Austin
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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