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Local Council Decides to Let Travelers Stay on Site

Dale Farm Bulletin #5
July 5, 2007
For Immediate Release

Contact: Grattan Puxon, Secretary of Dale Farm Housing Association, +44 01206523528

Travelers at Dale Farm let out a collective sigh of relief after striking a deal with the Basildon Local Council which will let them stay put until at least next spring.

On June 5, the Development Control and Traffic Management Committee of the Basildon Local Council voted to undertake eviction proceedings against fourteen Traveler families living on eleven properties at Dale Farm. Evictions were scheduled to begin on midnight of July 6. 

A judicial review of the committee’s decision to evict was issued by the Dale Farm Housing Association to the High Court last night. Before a judgment was made, however, the council decided to stop the eviction proceedings, promising not to evict anyone until a separate hearing next spring regarding the remaining 45 properties had been concluded.

Tory council leader Malcolm Buckley explained the council’s reasoning this morning, stating that it was, “likely” that the High Court would have agreed to a separate judicial review, preventing the eviction anyway.

Dale Farm spokesman Richard Sheridan summed up the renewed courage that all Travelers felt upon hearing the council’s verdict by stating, “there is a long way to, but no one will be thrown out this year. The villagers will have to put their champagne back on ice.”
 
Melissa McCarthy, 18, who was orphaned after her parents were burned alive in their mobile two years ago, was elated at the Council’s decision. “I was so scared they were going to come in a few days. I was crying and depressed. This gives us more hope.”

The council’s decision not to evict places even more importance on the High Court’s hearing next spring to decide whether or not to evict the remaining 45 yards at Dale Farm. It is believed that the eleven properties will be extended a court injunction, including them under the same judicial review as the other 45.  Such an amalgamation would mean that the High Court’s decision next spring will decide the fate of the entire Dale Farm community.

• The Dale Farm Bulletin is produced on behalf of the Dale Farm Community Association by Grattan Puxon, Secretary of the Association, and Zach Scott, a 2007 Peace Fellow of The Advocacy Project . For more information, contact Dale Farm or Zach Scott. For the Dale Farm chronology and Association news, visit the Dale Farm partner page.

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