What can best be described as a stand-off ensued yesterday (24 August) when Epping Forest District Council attempted to clear Paynes Lane of its last residents.
Paynes Lane, in Epping, has been a camping place used by Romanies for more than 50 years.
It is now the location of the Delaney Memorial Park to Roma victims of the Holocaust and present-day ethnic-cleansing.
Planning enforcement officer John Pearce and a small posse of Essex police officers stood by passively to see whether anyone was going to abide by the 2 pm deadline and leave. Nobody did.
One trailer was towed out just ten minutes before the access lane was again obstructed. But this was only because the owner was selling the caravan.
Most of the morning was spent, between heavy downpours, in argument over the obstructions placed in the lane by neighbours. Mr Pearce had arranged with a house-dweller and local nursery to temporarily remove concrete blocks and a large skip.
The lane was to remain unobstructed for three hours, to allow those so willing to pack up and go. Harry Smith, with his wife Linda in hospital at Harlow, told Mr Pearce he could not leave.
It was pointed out to Mr Peace that the previous afternoon an ambulance had been unable to get down the lane to take Mrs Smith to hospital. With the skip recently moved further forward and filled with concrete, it was also too narrow for a fire-engine to negotiate.
Police officers were appealed to but they said it was matter between the landowners. However, council employee Tom Izzard eventually agreed with Tom Sweeney, of the Irish Travellers Movement, that a minimum width of ten feet should be allowed.
This was duly measured and marked out in orange paint, while a BBC TV crew and another video-photographer recorded the proceedings. Harry Smith drove a van in and out the entrance to test the access and though not whole pleased accepted the compromise.
Mr Pearce declared he was satisfied that an emergency vehicle could enter the caravan park. He said local residents and the council had to be assured that no more caravans could be brought onto the Paynes Lane caravan park.
A dozen bedraggled supporters, including myself and Noelette Keane, of the ITM, then withdrew.
The bigger issue remains as to what is to happen next. According to a statement by senior solicitor Ruth Rose on Monday, Epping council had intended to go back to the High Court and ask a judge to commit Harry Smith to prison, if he was not off the land by 2pm on Tuesday.
Appeals have been made to the council not to take this hard line in view of the fact that Mrs Smith is seriously ill. Others have in recent months obeyed the council only to find themselves in a worse situation after leaving Paynes Lane.
Peter Robb, who comes out of Pentonville today, bought a paddock at Colney Health and was sentenced to 28 days for living on his own land there, in neighbouring Hertfordshire. Some of the Delaneys, cousins of the young Michael Delaney murdered in racial attack last year, are now in south London, being moved constantly.
Other enjoyed a brief respite on an unauthorised site near Braintree. But have since had to leave there.
Worst of all, Epping vigilantes turned out earlier this month to prevent Travellers moving onto land they had purchased in Flux's Lane. Their robust action in erecting barricade at the entrance was promptly praised by leader of the council John Knapman.
In these circumstances would a judge be willing to commit Harry Smith to prison? It is a gamble which may or may not be ventured. Mr Pearce offered an opinion that it might take two weeks to get a High Court hearing and Mr Smith would be notified in advance.
Of course, with the obstructions replaced in the lane, he cannot now remove his caravans from the land.
Meanwhile, other Travellers in the district, at Hamlet Hill and Birth Field caravan park, near the M25 are also under threat of eviction. The Commission for Racial Equality has asked what provisions Epping is making for alternative accommodation in the event these places are closed and bulldozed.
Mr Knapman has expressed a willingness to consider establishment of a caravan park through a housing association. Much depends on the contents of the Government's promised end-of-summer review on the whole Traveller law reform question.
It is now the location of the Delaney Memorial Park to Roma victims of the Holocaust and present-day ethnic-cleansing.
Planning enforcement officer John Pearce and a small posse of Essex police officers stood by passively to see whether anyone was going to abide by the 2 pm deadline and leave. Nobody did.
One trailer was towed out just ten minutes before the access lane was again obstructed. But this was only because the owner was selling the caravan.
Most of the morning was spent, between heavy downpours, in argument over the obstructions placed in the lane by neighbours. Mr Pearce had arranged with a house-dweller and local nursery to temporarily remove concrete blocks and a large skip.
The lane was to remain unobstructed for three hours, to allow those so willing to pack up and go. Harry Smith, with his wife Linda in hospital at Harlow, told Mr Pearce he could not leave.
It was pointed out to Mr Peace that the previous afternoon an ambulance had been unable to get down the lane to take Mrs Smith to hospital. With the skip recently moved further forward and filled with concrete, it was also too narrow for a fire-engine to negotiate.
Police officers were appealed to but they said it was matter between the landowners. However, council employee Tom Izzard eventually agreed with Tom Sweeney, of the Irish Travellers Movement, that a minimum width of ten feet should be allowed.
This was duly measured and marked out in orange paint, while a BBC TV crew and another video-photographer recorded the proceedings. Harry Smith drove a van in and out the entrance to test the access and though not whole pleased accepted the compromise.
Mr Pearce declared he was satisfied that an emergency vehicle could enter the caravan park. He said local residents and the council had to be assured that no more caravans could be brought onto the Paynes Lane caravan park.
A dozen bedraggled supporters, including myself and Noelette Keane, of the ITM, then withdrew.
The bigger issue remains as to what is to happen next. According to a statement by senior solicitor Ruth Rose on Monday, Epping council had intended to go back to the High Court and ask a judge to commit Harry Smith to prison, if he was not off the land by 2pm on Tuesday.
Appeals have been made to the council not to take this hard line in view of the fact that Mrs Smith is seriously ill. Others have in recent months obeyed the council only to find themselves in a worse situation after leaving Paynes Lane.
Peter Robb, who comes out of Pentonville today, bought a paddock at Colney Health and was sentenced to 28 days for living on his own land there, in neighbouring Hertfordshire. Some of the Delaneys, cousins of the young Michael Delaney murdered in racial attack last year, are now in south London, being moved constantly.
Other enjoyed a brief respite on an unauthorised site near Braintree. But have since had to leave there.
Worst of all, Epping vigilantes turned out earlier this month to prevent Travellers moving onto land they had purchased in Flux's Lane. Their robust action in erecting barricade at the entrance was promptly praised by leader of the council John Knapman.
In these circumstances would a judge be willing to commit Harry Smith to prison? It is a gamble which may or may not be ventured. Mr Pearce offered an opinion that it might take two weeks to get a High Court hearing and Mr Smith would be notified in advance.
Of course, with the obstructions replaced in the lane, he cannot now remove his caravans from the land.
Meanwhile, other Travellers in the district, at Hamlet Hill and Birth Field caravan park, near the M25 are also under threat of eviction. The Commission for Racial Equality has asked what provisions Epping is making for alternative accommodation in the event these places are closed and bulldozed.
Mr Knapman has expressed a willingness to consider establishment of a caravan park through a housing association. Much depends on the contents of the Government's promised end-of-summer review on the whole Traveller law reform question.
