Dale Farm Travellers prepare for imminent eviction battle

UN warns of ‘grave breach of human rights’ if Travellers are forced to leave their homes as standoff over Essex site intensifies On one side stands the UN, two bishops, three rabbis, Vanessa Redgrave, activists from Sweden, and 400 Irish Travellers. On the other stands Basildon borough council, many local residents and the coalition government. The battle over the future of Dale Farm, a former scrapyard that has been home to 86 families for the past decade, will intensify this weekend prior to Wednesday’s deadline for the Travellers to leave the site or face forcible eviction. The UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination examined the case in Geneva this week and the UN’s special rapporteur on housing, Raquel Rolnik, has warned that the evictions could “constitute a grave breach of human rights if not carried out with full respect for international standards”. The escalating standoff illustrates the discrimination faced by Travellers and a national shortage of suitable pitches, according to supporters of the Dale Farm Travellers. For their opponents, the long-running dispute shows the inadequacy of the law to deal quickly with flagrant planning transgressions. On Saturday, activists from across Europe will form Camp Constant, a live-in protest on the greenfield site, close to Basildon, in an attempt to stop bailiffs bulldozing Travellers’ homes in an operation that could cost up to £18m. Basildon council has set aside £8m for the eviction with an additional police bill of up to £10m, subsidised by £4.65m from the Home Office if required. “For the government to pay money to make these people homeless is criminal,” Lord Avebury, a Liberal Democrat peer, said. “I can’t believe that my own government will persist with such a cold policy.” Travellers have pledged to create a non-violent human shield to protect 100 children on the site and stop the bailiffs, but the council, and some campaigners, fear violent scenes. “There is bound to be violence because bailiffs themselves are using violence to bulldoze their homes,” the Gypsy campaigner Grattan Puxon said. “We hope that people will respond to that peacefully and use a human shield, but people should understand that the violence will come from the bailiffs in the first instance.” Travellers own the land at Dale Farm but, while half the site is legal, residents failed to win planning permission to live on the other half. Dale Farm resident Mary Ann McCarthy said Travellers would move if the council helped identify alternative pitches nearby so their children can continue to attend the local school. One application for an alternative site has been rejected, while another is still to be heard. A last-minute injunction against the eviction will be heard by a high court judge next week, while Dale Farm will be visited by the actor Vanessa Redgrave, the Catholic bishop of Brentwood and the bishop of Chelmsford. The Right Rev Stephen Cottrell, the bishop of Chelmsford, said: “If evicting children is the answer then we must be asking the wrong question. Whatever the legality of the situation, instead of asking how can we get rid of these people we should be asking how we can help them find permanent and stable homes.” Redgrave said: “The UK signed and ratified the UN convention on the rights of the child. I am certain that the eviction of the Dale Farm Traveller families is illegal under international, mandatory, human rights conventions. I am appalled that such an eviction can be upheld by our government.” Stephen Horgan, the deputy leader of Basildon council, said it was “absolutely absurd” to accuse the council of discrimination against Travellers when Basildon provides more authorised Traveller sites than neighbouring councils. “We believe in housing all sections of our community and we’ve done that,” he said. “We’d like some of the local authorities around us who have done nothing for the Traveller community to pitch in.” According to the council, Dale Farm applications were rejected because the council enforces “without fear or favour” against anyone who builds on greenbelt land. “We have to protect our greenbelt in the south,” Horgan said. “We cannot say a particular ethnic group is allowed to build on the greenbelt and no one else is.” McCarthy said the Travellers were frightened and several were suffering serious health problems. “Everyone is feeling very sick,” she said. “We’re not bad people. We have no machine guns. We want no trouble. We just want to be left where we are or be found another suitable place to live.” The council said the eviction process would not be “gung-ho” and it would meet its “statutory homeless duty” and provide every resident with a council property in Basildon. According to McCarthy, the homes offered are “very run down”, and the Travellers want to continue living in traditional caravans and mobile homes. “That’s our culture,” she added. “The idea that vulnerable people will be left by the roadside is nonsense,” Horgan said. “These heartrending images have no basis. I can understand if Travellers don’t see their long-term future in bricks and mortar. In the short term, no human rights are going to be breached.” Communities Local government Housing Planning policy Local politics Liberal-Conservative coalition Liberal Democrats Conservatives Roma, Gypsies and Travellers Patrick Barkham guardian.co.uk

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