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Dale farm defends law as Basildon defy court

ustiben | 03.08.2005 12:02 | Anti-racism | Migration | Repression | Cambridge

Residents at Dale Farm, the biggest Travellers' settlement in the UK under siege from an extreme-right wing-led local council, were furious and fearful this week following a bulldozer assault by Constant & Co., the 'gypsy eviction specialists', on a nearby trailer park.

During the partial eviction of Hovefields at Wickford on Tuesday (26 July), Mr Constant in defiance of a High Court judge, sent a giant JCB bulldozer through a private yard which had been placed under the protection of an injunction.

Extensive damage was done to the Ash View property including destruction of fencing.The owner is expected to pursue a claim for compensation against Basildon district council.

Challenged by this writer immediately after the incident, Mr Constant, standing within yards of the crushed fence, admitted the invasion contravened the court order."It should not have been done," he conceded weakly.

A Dale Farm legal representative, appraised of the incident, commented, "Mr Constant should be hauled before the High Court judge and imprisoned for contempt."

Chief Supt Sheldrake, the senior police officer present during the 'direct action operation' at Hovefield appeared to justify the intrusion by maintaining that Constant needed access across Ash View in order to clear Dunroamin, a plot adjacent to this yard.

However, it was pointed out to Chief Supt. Sheldrake that other vehicles, including a second JCB, were entering Dunroamin by way of Hovefields Drive, without encountering any problem.

DALE FARM IN DANGER

Meanwhile, notice had been served by Constant bailiffs on Dale Farm that a large-scale direct action operation would be mounted against their homes unless they quit by midnight on 31 July. They were further advised by Essex welfare authorities to consider allowing the children and the infirm to be taken to places of safety to avoid the trauma of a violent eviction.

Physical as well as mental injury to women, children and the elderly would be the inevitable result of the five million euro bulldozer-led assault on the 120 chalets, mobile-homes and caravans in the Sheridan-clan settlement, according to an assessment by Wickford Primary Care Trust.

Only at the eleventh hour residents' solicitor Keith Lomax, briefing barrister Alex Offer, was successful in obtaining an injunction extending protection to a number of yards at Dale Farm. An order by Mr Justice Richards was "intended to maintain the status quo" pending a decision on an application for a judicial review of Basildon's l8 to 21 vote to destroy the entire settlement.

That decision was based upon the racist boast of Basildon Tory leader Malcolm Buckley to rid the district of all 220 'unauthorised' caravans.

In what is regarded by lawyers as a further obstruction, Basildon council refused to accept the initial injunction as blanket coverage despite a letter (30 July) from Mr Lomax to Samuel Grindal, in their legal department, expressing the view that, "it would be contemptuous of the Council to proceed".

He further submitted that disregarding the injunction was itself a breach of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights both of the 85 families on Dale Farm and the 50 families on the adjacent authorised Oak Lane site.

"I remind the Council that the right is of respect to family and home," stated Mr Lomax. "The decision to refuse to give an undertaking not to take action with respect to the entire site whilst an injunction was in force for the sample 26 claimants was one which no reasonable authority would make."

It clearly failed to take into account the impact on the families and the breach of their rights under Article 8. Lomax pointed out damage had already been caused by placing the population at Dale Farm under enormous stress.

He urged them not to make the same mistake that Leeds City Council made exactly five years ago on 1 August 2000 when it evicted James Connors and his family. That eviction resulted in the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (27 May 2004) which now stands as authority on the issues that will clearly come into play should the council proceed with direct action on or after Monday,1 August.

RESIDENTS FACE EVICTION

"We're nearly out of our minds with the worry," said Kathleen McCarthy, chair of Dale Farm residents'committee, on the eve of the eviction deadline. "The council won't accept the injunction and after Hovefields we can't trust the police to uphold the law."

In response to an appeal by Richard Sheridan, spokesman for Gypsy andTraveller Affairs, more than a dozen Human Rights Monitors, including a strong Jewish contingent, stayed overnight at Dale Farm. They were in place on Oak Lane when police arrived early on Monday morning.

Enlarged copies of the High Court Injunction together with the final Lomax letter had been posted at a temporary road barrier. I explained to the sargeant that vehicles, other than those of residents, required the authority of the owners of the private road if they wished to proceed into Dale Farm. Permission was presently being withheld due to the emergency created by Basildon council's failure to accept the terms of the Injunction.

After brief further discussion, the squad car was turned around and driven away. An hour later, a police request to Essex Fire and Rescue to remove the barrier was firmly refused. But to the relief of residents, Constant & Co. made no appearance and by 10 am, with the danger clearly passed, traffic was again flowing freely. Pending the Judicial Review hearing, life for the 600 residents had returned to something like normal.

ustiben


Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

town twinning?

03.08.2005 13:31

is Basildon twinned with Harare by any chance?

ebol


AF Publishing

04.08.2005 17:11

Basildon led the way and Harare followed!

Peter (proud to be an ex-Basildonian - hooray) Wakeham
mail e-mail: kittyplant@btinternet.com
- Homepage: http://www.arthur-findlay.com


resident

27.09.2005 16:22

Yeah smart ass comments. Well done. Totally ignorant but 'right on comrades'.

You left whingers are all hypocrites. If an big "evil multi nash-nul" corporation was tearing up a site of special scientific interest (and yes part of it was - bluebell woods 300yr old oak tree's etc) then 'swampy' and his left whinger mates would be chaining themselves to everything in sight.
Let's review. They bought greenbelt land knowing it was such and that they would NEVER get planning permission to build dwellings. Then ignoring that they proceeded to decimate the site and build over a hundred dwellings. Fully expecting that the law would not apply to them.

Well it does.

So us council tax payers will have to pay to evict them and restore the land.
Yes they should have homes. In fact there are plenty of homes for sale locally built with planning permission. Oh but they cost more because they were NOT built on greenbelt land.

They are NOT a special case. They are not travellers anymore. By their own actions (building brick dwellings) they are now part of the settled community.

So before you "shoot from the lip" know the facts.


The 'poor' travellers have the Redgraves and the entire lefty rentamob on their side. The residents only have themselves and the right of the law.

So again you are "shooting from the lip" - engage your brains next time.

resident


Paying council tax

29.09.2005 10:42

Actually, according to  http://www.peaceandprogress.org/dalefarm/ the travellers are also paying council tax.

I am very surprised that you are happy about the 3 million pounds of your money being spent to evict them!

Louise


What i think!

29.03.2006 09:21

Im an irish traveller myself from wolverhampton im 16 yrs old and i think what travellers have to go through is rediculous if we buy that ground we should have right to move on it its like if someone buys a house of us they can move on it they can make a home so why cant we. The programme that was on monday 27th march was rediculouse going back to ireland to take the poor deads name off the graves well that was discraseful and you wont be forgivine for it god is looking down. Travellers get classed different people think were tramps and theives well were not were human to theres good and bad in every one. Let the travellers have there land where are theygoing to go. Thats there home at the end of the day why where are you going to put them your house.

Priscilla Maughan (BAR)


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