Crays Hill residents warn of march protest if travellers stay (From Echo)
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Crays Hill residents warn of march protest if travellers stay
6:10am Saturday 19th June 2010 in News By Jon Austin
RESIDENTS have warned they may march through Basildon if travellers at Dale Farm are not told to leave.
Ramsden Crays Parish Council heard of mounting frustration among residents because Basildon Council still had not served notices on around 90 families at the unauthorised Dale Farm site, giving them 28 days to leave, or face eviction.
Bailiffs were hired for the job in January. However, letters to the parish from Essex Police, the council and Billericay MP John Baron confirmed no date has been set for the operation.
Parish councillor David McPherson-Davis said: “Our residents are becoming very concerned about the delays.
“People are fed up with it. If the council wants a march through Basildon, it might well get it.”
Parish councillors wrote to the authorities after the Echo revealed the council had yet to ask police to agree a date for the job.
The responses showed one month on, there had been no progress.
A letter from Essex Police said: “We have not been given a specific date for evictions, therefore we have not been requested to supply resources.”
The reply from council leader Tony Ball said: “We can assure you that Essex Police is working closely with the council to prepare plans for evictions at Hovefields and Dale Farm.”
Mr Baron wrote saying he was requesting meetings with police and the council about the evictions.
Mr McPherson-Davis added: “Someone is not telling the right story. The police letter makes no mention of working with the council. The question is why are they taking so long to serve the notices?”
The parish council agreed to press for answers at a meeting it is holding with senior council officers over the issue on Tuesday.
Mr Ball told the Echo: “I have met with senior police and we have discussed how to move this matter forward.”
Comments(14)
shallotman
says...
8:11am Sat 19 Jun 10
TheWizzard
says...
1:07pm Sat 19 Jun 10
bumper
says...
3:43pm Sat 19 Jun 10
they won so finsh the job or the people will .
if it was a family on there own it would of been done in days but when in numbers you are yellow no back bone and the police are no better .
thelonewhinger
says...
5:17pm Sat 19 Jun 10
One thing is for sure, if this protest takes place it must be properly advertised and anyone who is concerned at the spreading of this "culture" must attend. Apathy is not an option and a low turn out will simply strengthen the case for those whose view is that only "racists" and "bigots" are against the growing G/T threat.
Shallotman mentions the change of trespass law in Eire. I gather that this happened as a result of public protest and conflict including arson attacks on trav.settlements.
It is unacceptable that a local authority and the police who are both funded-by and accountable-to the public have not been forced to come clean over this issue. Are they, as happened in Eire, waiting for things to escalate into conflict?
stonybrig
says...
6:06pm Sat 19 Jun 10
Direct action is required because all we get is TALK and that normaly favours the travelling scum i am sick of them!!
Nebs
says...
8:47pm Sat 19 Jun 10
I predict a riot.
stropmag
says...
9:33pm Sat 19 Jun 10
Essex Police do themselves no favours as long as they spend so many resources on targetting moving traffic offences (important though that is) whilst failing to tackle the problems that matter to ordinary people.
Fupo
says...
10:51pm Sat 19 Jun 10
midnight warrior
says...
12:13am Sun 20 Jun 10
Will definitely be at the protest if it goes ahead as will the majority of Basildon, Billericay and Wickford. Also, get yourselves into gear MP's because you are the ones who should be supporting us as we voted you in. Unbelievable that we have had to suffer for over 9 years and still no end to it, it is disgusting.
APR
says...
11:16am Sun 20 Jun 10
predict a sharp rise in burglaries on the
day they do it.
TheWizzard
says...
11:38am Sun 20 Jun 10
vanilla ice
says...
5:39pm Sun 20 Jun 10
TheWizzard wrote:That’s a puzzle solved, I wondered why they only had plastic cutlery at the council, and there preferred material for new build projects is stainless steel.
Don't forget, councillor Buckley has already admitted to being 'part gypsy' perhaps there are more on the council?
Kim Gandy
says...
6:28pm Sat 3 Jul 10
If this new government wants to score any brownie points, it should get this problem addressed now.
We all know what they are. We're not stupid. We've had a decade of their destruction.
torridpiper says...
6:37am Sat 19 Jun 10