February 2, 2009, Basildon UK: In another blow to Traveller families living at Dale Farm, the British Court of Appeal has turned down their application to appeal to the House of Lords, the final appeals court in the UK.

This follows the Court of Appeal’s January 22 ruling overturning an earlier High Court ruling that had blocked the Basildon District Council from evicting the Travellers.

Families have lived at Dale Farm since the 1960s. Although they own the land, they have been denied permission to develop it because the area now falls within the Green Belt.

The Dale Farm families have now joined with the Equal Rights Trust to lobby Law Lords to hear their case in an attempt to have the Court of Appeal decision overturned. Grattan Puxon, secretary of the Dale Farm Housing Association, said they are going ahead with a direct appeal to the House of Lords, supported by a lawyer’s opinion. Mr Puxon said they will know within three weeks whether this appeal will be accepted. The Travellers are also holding meetings with their lawyers to determine what other legal avenues might still be open to them.

Meanwhile, the Basildon Council has sent the families a letter stating that there will be no immediate attempt at eviction and that families would be given 28 days warning before any eviction. The Dale Farm Housing Association has set up a monitoring group, with support from the UN Habitat agency, to track the way in which Basildon Council deals with homelessness applications from Dale Farm families.

The Advocacy Project (AP) has supported the Travellers since 2005 in their stuggle against eviction.