3:00pm Thursday 6th August 2009
By Jon Austin
TRAVELLERS facing eviction will protest outside Basildon Council’s headquarters.
Scores of mothers and children from the Crays Hill camp will be joined by local supporters, carrying banners, outside the Basildon Centre, in St Martin’s Square, on Monday.
They will demand the council re-home them to another site within the district.
Mum-of-four Jean Sheridan, 24, added: “We have nowhere else to go. My babes need medical help. They were born prematurely and lucky to live. How will they survive the terrors bailiffs bring?”
The council is currently tendering bailiffs to clear Dale Farm and Hovefields if travellers stay.
Campaigner Grattan Puxon, who is helping to organise the demo, said: “They will claim they have international law on their side to justify a demand the council must settle their community somewhere else in the district.
“They will be protesting that Basildon continues to drag its feet over a requirement by the Government that it provides land for at least 62 new pitches.”
Last month Government targets for traveller pitch allocation for the east of England were set, with Basildon ordered to make room for 62 on top of its 112 legal plots – enough to accommodate those at Dale Farm.
However, the council continues to resist the plan and is looking for alternative sites outside the district.
Council leader Tony Ball said: “Anyone is entitled to protest, but it won’t change our position. Other districts must make provision.”
He said unfortunately a recent council bid to relocate travellers to an empty site near Bristol had failed.
He added: “When I met with communities minister Shahid Malik with John Baron MP last month, he kept mentioning a transit site in Bristol.
“Officers have made inquiries, and there is a transit site at Kings Weston Lane. We looked into whether those at Dale Farm could go there on a temporary basis. However, the local authority will not entertain this. Although it is empty, they only take travellers for a few days at a time and occupants need to provide proof that they have somewhere else to go to to prevent them staying longer.”
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