At Dale Farm, the Travellers are adapting to a changing world where travelling as they once did is no longer an option. They are able to live in caravans as they have traditionally done, to take responsibility for the needs of their extended families and, if able, to continue to travel as much as they can during school holidays. Parents who cannot read or write at all can see their children making significant progress at Crays Hill School. Elderly and ill relatives who may not have survived on the road have consistent access to the healthcare they need. Travellers from Dale Farm attend the local Catholic Church regularly, have welcomed people from the wider community into their homes and are willing to make a significant effort to build bridges with a local community that has been overtly hostile towards them.

With an eviction, this progress will have been wasted. They are facing life on the road, where they could be moved on daily, making it almost impossible to access even basic healthcare or education services. Most of the children were born in Basildon and have never known life on the road. Basildon Council is sending them a clear message that there is no legal place for them in this community. Who will give Travellers a legal place  in society?  And when will the UK government and local councils realize that by further marginalizing them, they are not only ignoring the human rights of an ethnic minority but also causing themselves on-going problems in the future?

Although residents have tried to hold on to a semblance of normality during this process, the worry and stress has permeated everything. They have been through a roller-coaster ride of emotions; They have packed up their belongings and mourned the loss of their homes and community. They have seen their homes become overrun by protestors and barricades. They have stood behind a cemented gate waiting for bailiffs to enter. And after a last-minute reprieve, they have been given a glimmer of hope that something good might come of these last three judicial reviews.

The waiting is the worst part.  Today, at least, we will know the answer.

Here we are again. Tomorrow we are facing yet another crucial ruling; the Dale Farm residents’ fate is in the hands of yet another judge.

Dennis playing with his suitcase outside his yard at Dale Farm, days before the eviction is due to begin. Photo by Susan Craig-Greene, 2011.

The residents have, in some respects, already won. Three weeks ago, bailiffs, who had set up an intimidating compound in a field near their homes where ponies used to roam, approached the barricaded gate and were set to commence a complete site clearance. Now, an injunction and three judicial reviews later, Basildon Council has been forced to admit it was going to over-enforce and has now conceded hard standing, fences, gates, walls and several yards and buildings. The site will never be the greenbelt Basildon promised, the costs are spiralling out of control and there are calls from all sides for someone (namely, Tony Ball) to be held accountable for what can only be described as a botched eviction. But what does any of this mean for the Dale Farm residents if, in the end, they can still not remain in their homes and there is still no obligation on Basildon Council to help them find somewhere culturally-suitable to live?

The ruling tomorrow on the three judicial reviews is critical. If the Travellers lose, the majority of the families will still be evicted with nowhere to go.

So have we done enough? Have we convinced this judge that the impact of an eviction on education and health is unnecessary and disproportionate? Have we convinced him that no peaceful, viable alternative solution has been offered or sought by Basildon Council? Have we convinced him that this eviction is not a long-term solution for anyone and that further marginalizing this community will exacerbate the problem? Have we convinced him that there is a long-term solution; alternative sites must be found and planning applications taken seriously?

My son is right. It won’t be enough to argue that this isn’t fair. Let’s hope we’ve done enough.

Michelle Sheridan consoling her son, Tom, in their trailer at Dale Farm. Photograph by Susan Craig-Greene, 2011.

Dale Farm resident and mother of four boys, Michelle Sheridan, said that it was a scary experience standing before the High Court judge pleading for what seemed like their last chance to save their homes.  She said, “the judge was very understanding when we didn’t know when to stand and they gave us scented tissues when we were crying.” The judge ruled that there are grounds to consider whether or not Basildon Council’s plan for an entire site clearance would be unlawful and would go beyond the scope of the enforcement notices, and set the hearing date for Friday.  Tony Ball and Basildon Council have no one to blame but themselves for the increasing cost of the eviction, which offers no real long-term solution for anyone and could soon be declared unlawful.

Now, even if it is only for a few days, residents are happy that some normality has been restored to Dale Farm. As the gates were opened yesterday to comply with the terms of the injunction, a line of caravans re-entered the site as “Country road, take me home to the place I belong…” blared from one of the vans. Michelle said, “It feels great to be back. I know it may only be for a few days but you don’t know how good it feels to be home.”

Now we wait. The decision on Friday is crucial.

Tom Sheridan in his family's caravan on site at Dale Farm. His family was packing up their religious statues ahead of the eviction today. Photograph by Susan Craig-Greene

Amongst this chaos, the real story here is sadly being lost. This is about the people; the Travellers; the community. They are now face-to-face with the reality that they live in a country that does not recognise that their culture is worth preserving. Their whole way of life is under threat. The only option Basildon Council has ever given them is to split up their families and to conform to a settled way of life and live in bricks and mortar.  If this option is unimaginable, the residents are forced into a precarious situation on the road with no real home and no access to basic services. This reality resonated with me as the school bus came this morning as always and four brave children made their way past the scores of media and field of bailiffs to clamber on and head to school for a few hours of normality.

We have now come to the point we hoped we would never reach. We are standing behind barricades, waiting for the bailiffs to make their move.

Shakira Gammell near her yard at Dale Farm. Protestors have painted similar signs on portacabins, fences, caravans all over the site. Photograph by Susan Craig-Greene

Breda asked Marie as we were waiting around this morning, “Are you all right, Marie? Are you ready for them?” Marie answered, “We have no choice now.”

As we passed the health centre, church and school that the Travellers attend on our way to Dale Farm, it really resonated how deeply entrenched in the local community they have become over the past 10 years.  At the end of the march, MEP Richard Howitt summed it up in his speech to the residents when he said, “what is happening here is not decent. Throwing people out of somewhere when they have nowhere else to go is not decent”.

The end is drawing uncomfortably near.

Are you listening, Basildon Council? It is certainly not too late for you to decide on the peaceful and logical solution that makes sense for Dale Farm and for local settled residents.  The Homes and Communities Agency officially stated to MEP Howitt, “We are willing to place any of our land in Basildon at the Council’s designation as Gypsy and Traveller sites…We are willing to identify and invest capital to establish pitches on such land…” It is unjustifiable for you to ignore this offer, spend £18 million of taxpayers’ money unnecessarily and make a community homeless in the process.

Jimmy Tom, proudly reading aloud from one of his books to his mother and me. Jimmy Tom will have no access to education if forced onto the road. Photo by Susan Craig-Greene, 2011.

Nora is extremely worried about having to pull her children out of the school they love and to put an end to the significant progress they have been making over the past few years. Six year-old Jimmy Tom, her youngest, who started at Crays Hill Primary School just last year, proudly gets out his books every time I come round and demonstrates how well he can read. It is amazing how fluent he is after just one year. He couldn’t wait to go back to school today.

Margaret Quilligan is devastated that she will soon have to take her six year-old son with Down’s syndrome, Dan, out of his special needs school in Basildon after the two years it took to secure him a place there. She cries as she explains that Dan had finally settled in there, made friends with the local children and eagerly waits for the bus each day. How can she possibly find him an appropriate place if on the road?

These children want to go to school and their parents want to send them. This is remarkable progress, considering the vast majority of parents do not read or write at all.  Surely, the UK government owes Jimmy Tom, Dan and the rest of the children an explanation, as to why their rights are not being considered (specifically the Article 28 right to education under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child) and why it is endorsing and funding this eviction and putting them in a position where access to education is virtually impossible.

Mary Flynn, praying with her family at Dale Farm, 2011. Photo by Susan Craig-Greene. Mary Flynn's case was the subject of the hearing in the High Court last week. The judge will not reopen the case but was "concerned" about her deteriorating health and asked Basildon Council to answer to this. Many of other Dale Farm residents have also had significant changes to the health in recent months.

Tragically, last minute pleas from religious leaders, the UN, the Council of Europe and Amnesty International for the UK government to consider the realities and human rights implications of this eviction have fallen on deaf ears. The UK government is ignoring its obligations under international law and fully supports Basildon Council’s £18 million eviction campaign that will make an entire community homeless and vulnerable and will offer no long-term solution to anyone’s problems.

In the UK, planning law is king.

It has been a busy week at Dale Farm. Not only do there seem to be members of the media swarming the site at all times, but there have been several noteworthy meetings. On Tuesday, the planning application for a site in Laindon that would be able to accommodate some of the residents was refused after 1200 local residents launched a protest against it. The Planning and Development Control Committee also met to consider the personal circumstances of 8 of the most vulnerable residents.   Even after looking closely at the reality facing individuals with severe illnesses and special needs, they voted again overwhelmingly to not make any exceptions and to go ahead with the eviction. (See BBC article.)

This was generally the message at the 2 subsequent meetings we had with Basildon Council this week. I welcome the fact that Essex Police and key members of the team at the council came onto the site and met with Candy Sheridan and Ann Kobayashi and myself in the newly established office.  It was a breakthrough, in many respects, and it is important to keep the lines of communication open. The main topic on my and the Travellers’ minds, however, is the only topic that cannot be discussed at these meetings; finding an alternative solution to this eviction.

Similarly, today, Candy and I met with Homelessness Officers at Basildon Council offices to attempt to work together to progress the Travellers’ homeless applications. Again, this was very useful from an administrative and communication point of view, but the reality is that, even in the best case scenario for the Travellers, at the end of this process they will be offered culturally unsuitable accommodation.

The clock is ticking for the Travellers at Dale Farm and it is unimaginably devastating for me to realise that, in 28 days’ time, this community could be torn apart and gone forever.  

The new office on site at Dale Farm, photo by Susan Craig-Greene

Someone has to be in the office at all times to sign visitors in and to answer any questions the residents have about their precarious situation. Today, it was 11 year-old Dale Farm resident, Eileen who was manning the office.  Unlike most of the adults at Dale Farm, Eileen can read and write and was proudly showing me and my 3 year-old daughter, Molly, how much she had learnt so far at Crays Hill Primary School. She even drew Molly a picture of a princess that has now become her most prized possession.

Dale Farm resident, Eileen, manning the new office on site at Dale Farm, photo by Susan Craig-Greene

Father Dan, the priest at Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church in Wickford, blessed the office after the final in the series of nine prayer services he has led on site at Dale Farm over the last nine days.

Eileen's picture for Molly

The residents at Dale Farm are fed up with homeless applications. Even before I got involved at Dale Farm over two years ago, many of the Travellers were already part of a long, frustrating homelessness process they did not understand. This process has been ongoing ever since, and a few other supporters and I, as their advocates, have been faced with a system that does not make provision for Travellers.

Irish Travellers, Richard and John Sheridan, playing with dogs outside their caravan at Dale Farm. Their family is appealing to the High Court on grounds that Basildon Council have not offered them culturally-adequate accommodation. Photo by Susan Craig-Greene, 2010.

When we were going into Basildon Council for her homelessness interview a confused Mary Ann said to me, “I am not homeless. I have a home. It is the Council that is making me homeless.” It was not only this contradiction that was the problem, but also that the Homelessness Department and its policies/offerings are solely designed to accommodate settled people. Each Dale Farm resident, at their interview, made it clear that they did not consider themselves homeless, that they could not survive without the support of their extended family and that they would not be able to live in bricks and mortar. Unfortunately, even with the best intentions of the Homelessness Department, the best-case scenario for the Travellers is that they are offered a house or flat, isolated from their extended family, at the end of the process. This may seem reasonable to settled people, but it is unfathomable for these Travellers.

Two of the families at Dale Farm who have been offered bricks and mortar have appealed the decision, urging the courts to rule that Basildon Council must provide them with culturally-adequate accommodation. The Travellers believe that what they are asking for would be a much lower-cost solution for the Council than providing them with houses. As Nora said to me, “There are settled people who need those houses and flats. All we are asking for is a small piece of ground to put our caravan. The Council won’t have to do anything.”  Barbara explained further, “It is like telling settled people that they have to live in caravans.” Their appeal was unsuccessful at the county level, but is now being appealed to the High Court.

Since this case, which has the potential to change the law and require councils to provide culturally-adequate housing, is currently in limbo, Dale Farm Travellers have been put in an impossible position.  The homelessness process has essentially failed them. They will be made homeless, as not a single resident has yet been prepared to choose a solution that will force them to leave behind their entire way of life and to abandon their extended family members and community. Shouldn’t the UK government be stepping in to do everything in its power to both ensure that these people are not made homeless and that they are not forced to forfeit their culture in the process?

There is a ‘peaceful’ long-term resolution to this situation. The Dale Farm Travellers have continuously said that they will ‘move off peacefully” (as MP John Baron has continuously asked them to do) if a culturally-appropriate site can be identified for them to lawfully live on. Not only is this the humanitarian solution consistent with the UK’s international obligations, but it would also avoid the immediate millions that would be spent on an eviction and the millions that will be required to deal with its aftermath.