Dale Farm Infonight @ offmarket
March 10, 2011 19:30
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Published: February 19, 2011 11:23 by OffMarket | Share
OffMarket
Tagged as: free_spaces repression solidarity
111 Lower Clapton rd, E5 0NP
offmarket@riseup.net / 07706279299
Opening hours: Sunday 12-6pm, Monday 12-6pm, tuesday 12-8pm
Open meetings are on monday 7pm if you want to meet us, check the space out or have any proposal to use the space!
Accessibility info for folks with different abilities, see the AccessCodes
An Infonight on Dale Farm travellers site
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Dale Farm, in Crays Hill, Essex, is the UK's largest Travellers' community, consisting of nearly a hundred separate properties, lying well outside the village and made up of extended family plots or yards.Most are owned by Travellers of Irish heritage, although some Romani families also own yards. The estate is divided in two sections, the front part (about 45 plots) has planning permission; while the back part (52 plots) despite numerous applications and appeals, has been refused planning consent, even though the site was previously a disused scrap yard! 90% of traveller planning applications are initially rejected compared to 20% overall.
Caving in to racial prejudice, Basildon District Council (BDC) has set aside two million bounds to demolish the homes in the back 52 plots. This could happen as early as September. We view the destruction of half this community as ethnic cleansing.
The planning history of the area has shown that the site had been used without planning permission since early 1990's for a variety of industrial uses. In 1992 BDC issued Enforcement Notices against various unauthorised commercial activities that were being pursued on the site. Part of the land at the east side of the site was previously the subject of two temporary consents for the breaking of motor vehicles, sale of vehicle parts and dealing in scrap metals. This use ceased following the vacation of the
land by the business proprietors in 2001.When the unauthorised development of the application site first came to the Council's attention in September 2003, the land to the east of the site had been used as a scrap yard from 1978 until 2001 under a permission granted by the Council to be used as such. If an exception was allowed for the scrap metal yard, surely an exception can be made for a vulnerable minority group to continue to live there, particularly given that many of them have already been through traumatic experiences of forced eviction.
In May 2005, the BDC voted to take direct action, setting aside some three million euro for an eviction and demolition operation. Residents sought a Judicial Review of this decision and won in the High Court. This judgment was overturned by the Court of Appeal on 22 January 2009. An appeal to the House of Lords was denied on 14 May 2009. After extensive research into the needs of Travellers and Gypsies in the UK, on 20 July the Department for Communities and Local Government informed BDC and the Gipsy Council that the District Council is required to provide sufficient land for 62 (sixty two) additional pitches. This requirement can be easily met by BDC if it decides to grant planning permission for the 52 (fifty two) unauthorised pitches already in existence at Dale Farm.
As mentioned before, the main desire of the families is to not move from Dale Farm; they wish to get planning permission for permanent residence to continue living in the site they privately own.
We say no to home demolitions, and no to ethnic cleansing!
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Contact email: offmarket@riseup.net
2011-03-01
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