A Voice For the Voiceless

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Travellers Score St. Valentine's Day Victory

High Court Victory for British Travellers
By Grattan Puxon
Dale Farm Housing Association

United Kingdom, February, 14, 2008: A small girl floating her St Valentine's Day balloon in the High Court on the final afternoon of the judicial review over Basildon council's plan to bulldoze Dale Farm seemed accurately to signal that a mile-stone victory has been scored by Travellers in Britain.

Whilst Justice Andrew Collins will not issue his ruling until Easter, there is no doubt the balloon has gone up on a racist policy which the Commission on Equality and Human Rights told the judge was no better than that of Pontius Pilate.

Robert Allen QC, for the CEHR, said Basildon had made it patently clear that it only wanted to get rid of Gypsies and Travellers. "We say this position is directly discriminatory,"Allen stated.

The effort of council chiefs "to tick the right boxes" concerning race relations, responsibilities to the homeless, to children and the infirm, and moreover in respect of its blue-print for  a violent eviction of the 90 families at Dale Farm, were all called into question during the four-day hearing not only by lawyers but by Justice Collins himself.

Having viewed a video by Hazel Sillitoe of Constant & Co., the bailiff  firm, crushing mobile-homes and burning the belongings of Travellers now at Dale Farm, Mr Justice Collins said forced evictions of this type should be a thing of the past.

He said regardless of the outcome of the review, he would call for a rethink on the policy of forced eviction conducted against Gypsies  and Travellers in England and Wales.

"I will request a serious rethink of the manner in which evictions take place and if the use of this firm of bailiffs is appropriate."

Meanwhile, concerning the fate of the families at Dale Farm, who for the past seven years have resisted attempts to force them off their land, the judge said Basildon 's refusal toprovide alternative accommodation was wrong. He said the council was obliged to find them somewhere to reside safely and permanently.

"They do not just want to live in Basildon but need to because there is nowhere else to go," Justice Collins remarked. "Is the solution to wait two or three years while other sites are developed?"

Alex Offer, representing Dale Farm residents, said their own  housing association was itself attempting to create an alternative on land at Pitsea. This location had been recommended by John Prescott, then Deputy Prime Minister. Basildon had rejected the proposal which was to be the subject of a public inquiry later this year.

Future Uncertain

Debate in the High Court centred around possible provision of local authority sites within the Basildon district. The Eastern Region Assembly has said at least 81 new pitches are needed. Tory leader Malcolm Buckley wants other councils to offer places to Travellers living within the greenbelt in his area. But this is not likely to happen.

Dale Farm spokesperson Kathleen McCarthy hopes common sense may yet prevail and they will be allowed to remain in their present homes. If this proves impossible and for politically face-saving reasons they have to vacate, few if any Travellers want to go onto a council site.

"This would be a big backward step," says Mrs McCarthy. "We have created our own community here and don't want to see it split up. Our best solution would be to build another Dale Farm somewhere else."

Dale Farm Housing Association is currently working with the Gypsy Council to acquire status as a registered social landlord for the purpose of qualifying for funding from the government-linked Housing Corporation. The DFHA, whose members own the fifty Dale Farm yards, could then develop an alternative on land designate by Basildon council, in fulfilment of its duty under the Housing Act.

In a letter to councillors, the Gypsy Council asks members in view of the likely outcome of the judicial review to express which option they would prefer, a) development of up to three council sitesin the district, b) green light for a proposed expanded mobile-home park at Pitsea, or c) allow present residents to stay on at Dale Farm.