DALE FARM ALERT

Dale Farm, the largest Romani Gypsy and Irish Traveller community of its kind in Britain (See SchNEWS 694), home to over 100 families (1,000+ people) is now under serious threat of eviction.

The site on Oak Lane in Crays Hill, Essex - which began in the 1970s has, like all other sites, been under threat since the 1994 Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which repealed the Caravan Sites Act 1968, obligating local authorities to provide space for travellers. The population of Dale Farm has swelled as other travellers were evicted from sites around the country.

Part of the site was bought around this time by the Sheridan clan of travellers but planning permission to live on the land has been repeatedly refused by Basildon Council. According to the Commission for Racial Equality this is typical – 90% of planning applications from traveller communities are routinely refused compared with a 20% average failure rate. Stitched up by the council, the residents of Dale Farm have recently also lost their final appeal to be heard by the House Of Lords.

The council are now pressing ahead with a £5 million plan to evict and bulldoze the site. On 10th December, Basildon Council leader Tony Ball will formally lead his cabinet in voting to give a £2m contract for the eviction of Dale Farm - and this contract will most likely go to ruthless ‘gypsy eviction specialists’ Constant & Co (See SchNEWS 669). If that happens Dale Farm will soon be given just 28 days notice before the bailiffs arrive, and residents face having to prepare to resist the eviction imminently - and will need urgent support.

* Rally to ‘Save Dale Farm’ - meeting outside The Basildon Centre, St Martin’s Squ-are, Basildon SS14 1DL from 7pm on 10th December, aptly also on Human Rights Day. Email dale.farm@btinternet.com to receive further updates.