Professor Racquel Rolnik, the UN’s special rapporteur on housing, needs correcting on several key points about the proposed site clearance at Dale Farm (Aug 8) Over the past decade, Basildon Council has made every effort to resolve this dispute through negotiation with the travellers and has repeatedly made offers to rehouse those who will be affected by the clearance.
Unfortunately, no travellers at Dale Farm have so far opted to accept the council’s offers of help Prof Rolnik talks of a “grave breach of human rights” at Dale Farm. The reality is that the site clearance is a planning dispute, not a comment on anyone’s lifestyle or ethnicity.
Dale Farm has been illegally developed on green belt land. By doing this and failing to comply with enforcement notices, the travellers have broken the law.
We are fully aware of our duties and we will carry them out in accordance with the law. The traveller community will be treated the same way as any other citizen.
Basildon Council is taking this action with great reluctance because we have a duty to see the law is upheld. That is also what I believe the majority of the local people who we serve expect us to do.
I would be more than happy to offer Prof Rolnik a detailed account of the events which led us to this point.
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