Residents of Dale Farm near Cray’s Hill in Essex continue to fight the attempts of the local council to forcibly evict them from their land and homes. The Travellers have won a High Court injunction which prevents their eviction by force. This injunction keeps the thugs of Constant and Co, a bailiffs’ firm which specialises in evicting Gypsies and Travellers, and Malcolm Buckley, the head of Basildon Council, temporarily at bay. The community at Dale Farm, supported by other activists, are prepared to defend their community and resist any attempt to force them from their land.
Basildon Council has allocated £2m to make these families homeless. The residents of Dale Farm bought the land at the site but have been denied planning permission. 90% of planning applications by Travellers are refused. The decision by Basildon Council to destroy around 150 homes on private land at Dale Farm is to be the subject of a judicial review.
During the election the media attempted to incite racial hatred against travellers which culminated in the Sun’s ‘Stamp on the Camps’ article. Since the election Travellers in the Brighton area have been stoned and a petrol bomb was thrown at caravans in Kent. Dale Farm was the site of Michael Howard’s high profile pre-election anti-Gypsy rant which aimed at stoking the fires of race hatred against Gypsies and Travellers.
The Dale Farm site has become a haven for families evicted from other sites in Essex. Dale Farm’s fight has become a test case in the defence of Traveller rights in the UK. If the families are evicted they will be forced into a desperate cycle of eviction and stop-gap encampments in unsuitable locations causing massive disruption to their lives and wellbeing.
For more information about how to support the campaign e-mail: [email protected]
Barnaby Mitchell
FRFI 187 October / November 2005
