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Judge Says Travellers Can't Stay on Own Land
JUDGE SAYS TRAVELLERS CAN'T STAY ON OWN LAND
by Grattan Puxon
November 18, 2008
Judge Collins, who earlier this year saved Dale Farm from eviction, has ruled that five families cannot stay on their own land as it's within a green zone area.
Travellers have thus lost their appeal in the UK High Court against rejection of an application for retrospective planning permission to live in homes they have created on plots they purchased some years ago.
But like the nearby Dale Farm community, those at Hovefields Drive, Wickford, Essex, will go back to court next month. The Court of Appeal will decide on 4 December whether Basildon can go ahead with its three million pound plan to clear Travellers from the district.
Despite arguing that the education of children, including two special-needs pupils, should outweigh the necessity of preserving greenbelt, mothers were told protecting the landscape was more important.
Mary McCarthy, Anne Coyle, Christine Reddin and Paula Gallager, together with John Ox, had all asked Judge Collins to order their case to be reconsidered by the Planning Inspectorate.
However, Mr Justice Collins decided that the planning inspector had been entitled to reach the conclusion their children's educational needs were "not particularly unusual."
APPEAL COURT
Meanwhile, a young mother at Dale Farm has been advised by doctors to rest and keep to her bed to give her unborn babies the best chance of life. She is expecting triplets after Christmas.
Although Basildon council has been notified of her condition, officials have stated that "as there has been no appreciable changes in circumstances", elected members are not now being
given an opportunity to reconsider enforcement options.
They could, if they chose, allow this mother and others to give birth in peace. Instead, the item on Dale Farm has already been removed from a committee meeting. As a result a 20-page survey by Dale Farm Housing Association, which included news of the triplets, has been ignored.
Prayer meetings are being held for the welfare of the babies in the Saint Christopher chapel at Dale Farm. Several other mothers are expecting in the New Year.
MOTHERS' APPEAL: PROTECT OUR BABIES
We are asking everyone who can to join our rally outside the Royal Courts (Strand, London) at 11.30 on Thursday 4 December – and stand with us at Dale Farm if an eviction is attempted.
Donations can also be sent to:
Dale Farm Housing Association
c/o 1 John Harper Street
Colchester, Essex C01 1RP
For more information email Dale Farm.
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