Dale Farm et al

[AnneWiddecomesArse]

A continuation...

I used to live in Hatfield Peverel Sarah! Now I am right over near the Suffolk border. (sorry folks, no more hijacking I promise.)

We went to look at a house in Crays Hill once - it was beautiful. But a friend who lived in Billericay told us that Travellers had just moved in (this was about 11/12 years ago, so must have been the beginnings of the small legal site, or perhaps prior to them gaining retrospective PP?) and she knew people there who were desperate to get away because it had changed for the worst, (particularly the school) but they couldn't sell their houses because the value had plummeted and no-one would touch Crays Hill with a barge pole any more. And that was that long ago.

Ooh my cousins lived in Hatfield Peveral Fell! I lived in Bicknacre, where the hijacked Christian Festival was. I'd like to move back in the future, probably Colchester way.

the problem with constantly coming back to planning permission point is that there aren't anywhere near enough traveller sites or spaces
the government knows this and has done nothing to improve the situation

if the government has acknowledged the necessity for provision and has failed to do so then what does it expect will happen within the travelling community? Buying land and building alongside an approved site doesn't seem so awful in those circs does it?

also many of the approved sites are in a grim state and not up-kept

And why would they be in a grim state Perry? Please don't say it's because the LA's don't spend enough money, they pour money down their throats, quite literally.

And we are talking about people who OWN HOUSES. Which they could live in. They chose this lifestyle. And their status as travellers works to their advantage in so many ways. School admission, for example. A traveller child will get into a local school ahead of a child who is in catchment, has a sibling at the school and even lives in care.

Sarah most travellers do not own a house they could live in elsewhere.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission says this:

the Government has allocated substantial sums to local housing authorities to develop new sites or refurbish old ones; however, the extent to which local authorities and registered social landlords access such grants, varies considerably across areas and is often dependent upon political will and changing local circumstances.
Evidence is now available about the extent of provision and unmet need, as a result of the requirement for housing authorities to carry out formal accommodation assessments.

These highlight a considerable shortfall in the quantity of residential and transit
accommodation available to Gypsies and Travellers who do not wish to reside in
conventional housing

Travellers earn a living just as anyone else does. So they can do what the rest of us do to provide themselves with somewhere to live. I do not think that there should be an obligation to provide them with permenant residential sites. If they want to settle down then they can do what the rest of the population does. I do not think we should be obliged to make special provision to house large members of the community together when we cannot offer the same to other groups.

If travellers are allowed to stay on their illegal residential settlements then hopefully nobody will mind if others who own a small patch of land in green belt land start to set up home as well.

Err, I think you'll find the Dale Farm ones do. It's pretty well known, it was on MBFGW - in which they appeared, it's been in the papers, and on the previous thread it was confirmed by another poster who lives near the village in which they pretty much own every property. Rathkeale was the name IIRC.

And it's also been stated over and over (by posters who know first hand) that the first family to arrive on these sites promptly removes every fixture and fitting and leaves the site trashed for the next family.

But why should councils be providing anything for people who have deliberatley put themselves in this position? As others have said, repeatedly, if this is the lifestyle they want to live, then they should be providing it for themselves, legally.

Their rights are protected under law fgs.

Rathkeale is where loads of travellers come from afaik. I know that some travellers do own property in Ireland, some spend their winters in a brick dwelling as they get older.

Most of the travellers on the Dale Farm site do not own property of their own.

Whose rights are protected? The travellers? I must have missed something.

The European Court has said that the government must facilitate the Traveller and Gypsy way of life. Provision of adequate sites falls within that remit

"PerryCombover Tue 06-Sep-11 11:42:28
Their rights are protected under law fgs."

Law, eh? I'm glad you mentioned that. As a person keen on the law, where do you stand on people who break it? Should they be permitted to break the law with impunity, and continue to break it?

I wonder if these are the same group of travellers?

www.independent.ie/national-news/travellers-leave-trail-of-resentment-481248.html

Can't be, they are lovely people just battling with our prejudice and terrible law system. They wouldn't do anything like that, at all.

Ha Rathkeale ha ha ha

Teachermum, that's an interesting read, it shows that the large numbers is a deliberate strategy.

Here is the link again:

www.independent.ie/national-news/travellers-leave-trail-of-resentment-481248.html

Being pelted with eggs on my way to work is not something I remember fondly, but I guess I should be grateful that it was eggs, not stones

I wonder what happened when the Middle England in Revolt group plans to visited Rathkeale to "confront" the Travelling community

They probably weren't allowed to confront them with their horrid racist ways.

Oh the European Court gave them rights. Fully prepared to ignore any liberallist shite that comes out of that place. The sooner we opt of the Human Rights Act the better -and that is not meant to be inflammatory (at least I don't think it is), but I think we are much better at managing our own affairs.