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Judge Stops Council Destroying Dale Farm Community School
Professor cites Saint Christopher's as unique educational opportunity
By Grattan Puxon
Residents at Dale Farm will on Monday morning stand by ready to hand bailiffs a copy of the injuction granted last night (4 Oct) which restrains Basildon council from demolishing their community centre.
The interim injunction was granted by an out of hours High Court Judge pending the hearing of an application for a judicial review of the council's decision to use direct action to remove the Saint Christopher Centre.
The log cabin was erected at Dale Farm, Crays Hill, Essex, with funding from the Essex County Council through the Racial Equality Council, to serve as a centre for youth activities. The suppliers told Dale Farm Housing Association it did not require planning permission.
Lord Avebury, who five months ago carried out the opening ceremony, pleaded that Saint Christopher's should - like the 132 chalets, mobile-homes and trailer caravans - be left alone at least until a hearing in the Court of Appeal on 5 December.
This hearing is to decide whether Basildon should be allowed to carry out its five million euro bulldozing of Dale Farm, the largest Travellers' village in the UK.
Despite this plea and a protest outside the town hall by members of the Dale Farm Chaveys Youth Club, councellors voted to require removal of the structure by midnight on 5 October on the basis that it contravened greenbelt restrictions.
Meanwhile, the application for a judicial review will be processed this week.The case for such a review is based partly on the refusal by Basildon to allow any members of the public to attend or speak at the vital committee meeting on 16 September.
Among those who had been ready to argue in favour of leaving Saint Christopher's intact was Father John Glynn, of Our Lady of Good Counsel Church, Wickford, who earlier had blessed the building as a place of prayer.
During its short existence Saint Christopher's has been utilized for many community and youth activities. They include meetings of the Gypsy Council and drop-in sessions by the Children's Legal Centre, as well as youth club competitions.
Educational Centre
As to its potential as a centre for youth and adult education, this has been outlined by Prof. Stephen Heppell, of Anglia Ruskin University. Described by Microsoft as Europe's leading online education expert, Prof.Heppell plans to develop a unique learning project for and by the residents of Dale Farm, based in the Saint Christopher Centre.
It will include courses for the fifty children of secondary-school age who at present are not attending local schools due to bullying, racism and parental fears of the drug and knife culture.
"Dale Farm offers an opportunity to build and evidence the effectiveness of a community quite literally picking itself up by its bootstraps," comments Prof. Heppell. "The Saint Christopher Centre provides, with the technology I will source for it, a perfect setting for communal learning."
He says his project could teach the nation much about inclusion, lifelong learning and the way learning progress can help evolve but not erase culturally diverse communities such as Dale Farm.
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