Travellers Forcibly Evicted in the UK
07 February 2004
According to the BBC of August 15, 2003, a group of Travellers were threatened with eviction from a car park in the town of Holywell, in North Wales. More than 30 caravans had reportedly been illegally parked on the site for several days in early August. The Flintshire County Council obtained a warrant for the repossession of the land and, on August 12, 2003, court bailiffs, accompanied by North Wales police, served an eviction order to the Travellers, according to the BBC, ordering the group to leave by August 15, 2003. The Travellers were given a stay of execution until August 16, 2003, following reassurances that they would leave, the BBC reported.
In other news, another group of Travellers were evicted from a sports ground in Northampton in central England, according to the BBC of August 13, 2003. The Northampton Borough Council told the BBC that it had given a "direction order" to the Travellers, requesting that they move from the land. Residents of the city of Southfields had reportedly planned a family event on the site on which the Travellers had set up the unauthorised camp. According to the BBC, the county recently received a government grant in the amount of 299,000 British pounds (approximately 431,000 Euro) to keep sites for Travellers open with good amenities in order to limit the number of illegal camps.
Related to the eviction of Travellers from the sites they occupy, on July 11, 2003, the BBC reported that the Kent County Council in southeastern England announced it would set up a telephone hotline on which people can report unauthorised camps of Travellers. At the time of the BBC report, there were 218 pitches on the 17 Council-run sites in Kent County, although there are often no vacancies. Mr Peter Lake, a representative of the Kent County Council, was quoted as having stated, "The hotline is for people in Kent to report illegal encampments across the county and by reporting those encampments they can find out exactly what can be done and who is involved in the process." The hotline is also reportedly available to the Gypsy/Travellers in need of advice as to where they can set up a camp. The Brighton-based non-governmental organisation Friends, Families and Travellers reportedly wrote to the Council, asking for the withdrawal of the hotline plans, stating that it could amount to discrimination under the Race Relations Act. The BBC quoted Ms Emma Nuttal, a representative of Friends, Families and Travellers, who stated, "if people are encouraged to phone up, the moving of Travellers could be even more frequent." The lack of adequate halting sites for Travellers in the UK has been noted by a number of expert observers.
(BBC)
