Britain's High Court Lifts the Threat of Eviction from the Dale Farm Travellers

AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 137
May 13, 2008
Ref: www.advocacynet.org/resource/1157


Dale Farm, nr Basildon, Essex, UK, May 13, 2008: In a far-reaching decision that
could galvanize efforts to combat homelessness across Europe, a British High Court
judge has halted the eviction of 86 Traveller families from Dale Farm in Southeast
England, and ordered the local authorities to find alternative land where the
Travellers can live legally and free from discrimination.

The ruling was issued by Justice Andrew Collins last Friday (May 9). It amounts to a
stinging rebuke to Basildon Council, which triggered the crisis in 2005 by ordering
the Travellers to leave Dale Farm because they were living illegally and without
planning permission. The Council reaffirmed the order on December 13, 2007.

Grattan Puxon, secretary of the Dale Farm Housing Association, which represents the
Travellers, described the High Court decision as "a major legal victory for
Britain's long-harassed Gypsies and Travellers, many of whom have in recent years
seen their homes mercilessly bulldozed."

Although the Basildon Council may appeal, it will have to consider the judge's
26-page ruling, which echoes many of the concerns expressed by supporters of the
Dale Farm community, including The Advocacy Project.

The judge concedes in his ruling that the Travellers are living outside the law and
that “the time must come when they will have to leave.” But, he writes, before this
happens the Basildon Council must demonstrate that the suffering to Traveller
families from eviction will be outweighed by the harm caused by their illegal
status. This, writes the judge, has not yet been done: “As a result, I am persuaded
that the decisions of 13 December 2007 cannot stand.”

At the heart of the judge’s ruling is a conviction that the Travellers are victims
of a “high degree of prejudice” who were forced to settle at Dale Farm because they
cannot find land elsewhere, which he describes as “indirect discrimination.” This
conclusion differs sharply from the view of the Basildon Council, which has always
portrayed the Travellers as profiteers, taking advantage of cheap land prices. The
judge also rebukes the Council for refusing to identify new land for Travellers and
Gypsies, even though the Council has been asked to find 81 housing plots (“pitches”)
by the body which governs local councils in Eastern England.

Justice Collins finds that the Travellers suffer from high levels of illiteracy and
poor health, which he attributes to an “inequality of opportunity.” He complains
that these special needs were not considered by the Council in weighing the impact
of any eviction: “A small number who had serious health or educational difficulties
might be permitted to remain at least on a temporary basis. I think that option
should have been spelled out.”

The judge is particularly critical of the violent methods used by Constant & Co.,
the firm of bailiffs that has carried out previous evictions and urges the Basildon
Council not to hire the firm again. Justice Collins writes that he watched video
footage of one eviction and found the bailiffs’ conduct “unacceptable.” Even the
presence of police had “failed to curb the excesses,” he writes.

With the immediate threat of eviction now lifted, the Travellers will turn to
developing a new community center that was opened last week. The Advocacy Project
hopes to support IT training for young people at the center, in an effort to raise
literacy levels. AP Peace Fellow James Dasinger has been volunteering at Dale Farm
this year.

Meanwhile, other advocates in Europe who are fighting for the rights of Roma and
other unpopular minorities, will likely study how the Dale Farm Travellers have
forced their campaign onto the political and legal agenda in Britain, in the face of
deep prejudice and with little support from the mainstream human rights movement.

Last week, Richard Sheridan, President of the Dale Farm Housing Association, took
his case to the British House of Commons, where he told MPs that the practice of
eviction amounted to “ethnic cleansing.” Mr Sheridan has been elected President of
the UK Gypsy Council, which will meet on June 10 to review strategy in light of the
High Court ruling.