Last week marked the official opening of the office in the St. Christopher’s Community Centre on site at Dale Farm.  So far, it only consists of a table, some chairs, a sign-in sheet and a kettle, but we hope to be kitted out with at least a computer, printer and broadband this week.  Adding to the crucifixes and portraits of Mary that already decorated the walls of the centre are new posters with messages such as “£18 Million wasted on Dale Farm. No sites identified. Who is really to blame?” and “Tell us where to go and we will go. If not here, then where?”

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

“All persons, groups and communities have the right to resettlement, which includes the right to alternative land of better or equal quality and housing that must satisfy the following criteria for adequacy:  accessibility, affordability, habitability, security of tenure, cultural adequacy, suitability of location, and access to essential services such as health and education.” Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), General Comment 4: The Right to Adequate Housing, par. 8.

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.

I was at Dale Farm yesterday for the first in a series of Activity Weekends, arranged by Dale Farm Solidarity to get supporters mobilised and organised in the lead up to the eviction. 

Boys looking for bugs outside of one of the old industrial buildings from the scrapyard.

As I was waiting for meetings to start, I had a chat with Dale Farm resident, John, who was showing off his boxing gloves and looking for bugs with his friends (John, John and Tommy) outside one of the industrial buildings from the old scrapyard. The building remains standing directly next to the small plot he lives on with his parents and sister. Of course, we didn’t talk about the eviction. Breeda, the mother of one of the boys, said “the young kids aren’t able to understand what’s happening and it won’t set in until the bulldozers come in, they are forced onto the road and they can’t go to the school they love anymore.” So we talked about the different kinds of bugs and worms they had managed to catch that day.

John playing outside scrapyard industrial building

For me, the abandoned building they were playing in front of serves as an important reminder that this site was not a green field that was occupied and turned into concrete by the Travellers.  The site was an old car breakers’ yard (at the end of a legal Traveller site), deep in concrete and in a bad condition when residents bought the land and moved onto it.  As soon as you visit Dale Farm and have a look around, it becomes clear that this eviction can’t really be about the preservation of green belt.  (See former AP fellow, James Dasinger’s account of what he deems “The Greenbelt Myth“.)

So, what is this eviction about? And why is the UK Government endorsing this extortionately expensive campaign by Basildon Council, which will make an entire group homeless and will offer no short- or long-term solution for the Travellers or for local settled people. Surely, John and the rest of the Dale Farm residents deserve an answer to these straight-forward questions.

If you want to support the residents at Dale Farm, here are a few ways you can get involved. They need your help now more than ever.

Jim McCarthy and his cousins, playing on site at Dale Farm

Activity Weekends

Starting this Saturday, 9 July, supporters will be meeting at Dale Farm every week from 11 a.m. to discuss :

* Planning
* Introductions and discussions with Dale Farm residents
* Helping build obstacles to make eviction more difficult
* Legal observer & human rights training
* Media training, including photography, film making, reportage
* Peaceful resistance and non-violent civil disobedience workshops

Join Camp Constant, a group of friends and supporters of Dale Farm who will live at Dale Farm to support residents from the last weekend in August.

Become a Human Rights Monitor. See the Dale Farm Legal Monitors facebook page for more details.

Receive regular updates about the campaign to resist the eviction of Dale Farm, by subscribing to the announcements list here.

Join the Dale Farm Solidarity facebook group and tell your friends to join too.

Follow these people on twitter and retweet the latest news on Dale Farm:

@letdalefarmlive

@susanjcg

@richardhowitt

Write letters or send e-mails to members of Basildon District Council and Eric Pickles, Secretary of State for Communities.

Sign the petition to stop the Dale Farm Eviction.

Father Dan, leading a prayer service for Dale Farm residents on site

Residents facing eviction and local supporters gathered together today outside Mary Ann’s chalet for a special prayer service, led by their local priest, Father Dan. The Irish Travellers at Dale Farm are all devout Catholics and, over the past ten years, have become a fixed part of the Our Lady of Good Counsel parish in nearby Wickford.

The Irish Chaplaincy in Britain has today formally condemned the eviction and the Bishop of Brentwood will soon be issuing a formal statement to the same effect.

Today, I received the call I’ve been dreading since I started working with the Travellers at Dale Farm. Michelle, one of the residents, rang to tell me that Basildon Council (BDC) was at the site, issuing the 28-day notice letters. I headed down there, hoping that it was just another of the many false alarms we’ve had over the years. As I approached, I could see the women of Dale Farm gathered underneath the “We Won’t Go!” banner that marks the entrance to the contested yards.  People were understandably distressed, scared and angry.  Noreen handed me the letter and asked me to read it aloud, which confirmed that BDC had handed them their notice, giving them until 31 August to leave their homes before a September eviction.

Eviction Notice, served today by Basildon Council at Dale Farm, photo by Mary Turner

Basildon Council is ignoring the undeniable toll this eviction will take on the lives of these women and their families. There is no question that by evicting these individuals from the homes they have made at Dale Farm over the past ten years, BDC will be making them homeless.  There has been no attempt by the BDC to find culturally suitable alternative accommodation for even the most vulnerable residents.  BDC admits its legal responsibility to find alternative school places for children and alternative medical services for those who need it, but is forcing an eviction that will make these commitments impossible to satisfy. Margaret asked me how, if homeless and on the road, she was going to find a suitable school place for her son with Down’s Syndrome, who is currently well cared for at the Pioneer School in Basildon. Jeany asked me how she was going to attend doctor’s appointments for her heart condition and have much-needed operations on her spine and hip if she is forced onto the road with nowhere legal to stop.

These human beings will not disappear once evicted. The humanitarian impact will be massive, and BDC will be responsible for a community of people, homeless, with no reasonable access to the education or healthcare that are their basic human rights.

Following the news that Essex Police have now secured £4.65 million from the Home Office, Basildon Council seems more determined than ever to go ahead with its £18 million eviction campaign at Dale Farm. Councillors agreed the final funding arrangements for the eviction at a meeting last night, and the 86 Traveller families fear that the 28-day notice letters could follow any day.

Mary Ann McCarthy protesting outside Basildon Council meeting last night, photo by Susan Craig-Greene

This eviction will be the largest the UK has ever seen and the humanitarian impact will undoubtedly be significant, particularly given that Basildon Council has chosen the controversial bailiff firm, Constant & Co., to remove the Travellers. Even Constant & Co.’s smaller-scale evictions of Travellers at Meadowlands (see pt. 2 of the video here), Twin Oaks, and Hovefields have been brutal, with allegations that Constant ignored health and safety regulations, burned chalets and caravans, and racially abused residents. Mr Justice Andrew Collins called their methods into question during a 2008 judicial review, and declared it “inappropriate” for Basildon Council to continue using the company. Nevertheless, Basildon Council has stuck with the firm.

Furthermore, in Basildon Council’s own Statement Regarding the Proposed Eviction from its Legal Services Manager, Lorraine Brown, it promised to “ensure that as a part of the procurement process for the appointment of bailiffs…that health and safety, equality duties, partnership working, experience and previous record of conduct are factors that will be assessed.”  Given these requirements, it is difficult to understand how Basildon Council can have selected Constant & Co. a company with an undeniably problematic record with Traveller evictions in all of the areas mentioned (which has been publicly highlighted by a High Court judge, the Deputy Children’s Commissioner and the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing). How does a company that boasts of their ‘unrivalled experience’ in evicting a particular ethnic group propose to meet their equality duties to that group?

Constant & Co. bailiff evicting Travellers at Hovefields, photo by Mary Turner

The question now is how Basildon Council and Constant & Co. plan to adhere to agreed human rights standards and to minimise the humanitarian impact of such a large-scale eviction. The UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing’s Basic Principles and Guidelines on Development-based Evictions and Displacement outlines agreed standards for ensuring respect of human rights during an eviction process. Not only are States obligated to ensure that “evictions should not result in individuals being rendered homeless” and that “the human right to adequate housing should be guaranteed without discrimination based on ethnic or social origin”, but the document also provides specific guidelines for ensuring human rights during evictions. According to the guidelines, States should ensure the presence of government officials and neutral observers, protect the right to life, dignity and security, make special arrangements to ensure the rights of women and children, avoid evictions in inclement weather, at night, prior to school examinations or during religious occasions, and to ensure the protection of people and possessions from violence or destruction.

So far, neither Basildon Council nor Constant & Co. have commented on how they propose to guarantee that human rights standards are met during the eviction. The UK Deputy Children’s Commissioner has, on several occasions, asked the council what it intends to do to safeguard children during demolition and what alternative accommodation is being offered them, but no satisfactory answer has yet been received.  Given the brutality of past Constant & Co. Traveller evictions, the lack of attention by Basildon Council given to recognised human rights standards and the rising tensions amongst Travellers who own the land at Dale Farm and have nowhere else to go, this eviction is a humanitarian catastrophe in the making.

I have just returned from my second trip to Appleby Horse Fair, an annual event that has been fixed in the calendars of Romany and Irish Traveller families since the 18^th century.

The fair is much more than just an opportunity for Romany and Travellers to conduct business (mainly buying and selling horses) and to meet up with friends and family. It is a proud celebration of their history and culture and by persistently honouring this longstanding tradition, they are taking a stand to preserve a way of life that is threatened with extinction in the UK.  Used to being the outsiders in their everyday lives, at Appleby Horse Fair, for one week every year, Romany and Travellers represent the dominant culture; here, they are able to proudly display their cultural traditions to settled visitors.

Visiting and, importantly, staying at Appleby is a vibrant, humbling, and slightly crazy experience, that I would recommend to anyone interested in Romany/Traveller culture.  I have made friends who have helped me to pitch my tent in the middle of the night, shared their culture and history with me, showed me the importance they place on their relationship with their horses, and sang to me by the campfire until the early hours of the morning. It is an amazing experience, and I plan to meet up with my friends and become part of the landscape of Appleby every year.

I can’t see how anyone could come away from the Appleby experience and still believe that this culture is not worth preserving.

Click here for a slideshow of my images from Appleby.

Basildon District Council’s (BDC) has voted for the third time to carry out a ‘direct action’ (eviction) at Dale Farm. This time, the decision was made by BDC’s Development Control Committee and, according to committee chairman, Stephen Hillier, “follows the members’ careful review of each individual case and the updated personal circumstances…” (See BBC article on the decision.)

Schoolchildren facing eviction from Dale Farm, playing after school in their grandmother's mobile home unit. Many of the children at Dale Farm will have no access to education if evicted. Photographed by Susan Craig-Greene for The Guardian.

It is not possible that the Committee members have carefully reviewed the personal circumstances of the Dale Farm residents who they voted again to evict. 

With no help from the council, the Travellers (most of whom cannot read or write) were unreasonably given two weeks during the Easter holiday to complete lengthy forms detailing their personal circumstances, and to submit letters to doctors and schools requesting more information be sent to BDC.  Hoping that this updated information would be reviewed properly, advocates for the Travellers spent days collecting the information from residents who happened not to be travelling during the Easter period.  The completed forms were submitted by the deadline agreed with BDC, but it has been confirmed by a Council representative that the Committee, understandably, have not yet received many of the professional opinions they requested from doctors and schools. And with the information they did have, the Committee adjourned for 40 minutes for members to review the meeting documents; an Options Report and 6 enclosures, one of which was Personal Circumstances Information (detailed forms and supplementary letters for up to 86 families).  (See the official decision from the Committee here.) Not only was the information incomplete, it is also safe to assume that this is not enough time to “carefully review each individual case”.

Given the personal circumstances of Dale Farm residents, BDC cannot fulfil its duties and responsibilities to Dale Farm residents if they are evicted.

As Mr. Hillier guarantees that “the committee made a fair, unbiased judgment… with full regard to all relevant matters”, it would be logical to assume that the Committee fully regarded its “duties and responsibilities to the families and individuals subject to the direct action” as outlined in this Statement Regarding Proposed Eviction by BDC Legal Services Manager, Lorraine Browne.  In the statement, BDC are obligated to “provide practical and sustained support for the families affected. Examples of such action would include:

a.      Facilitating identification of alternative school places…

b.      Facilitating identification of alternative health providers…

c.       Ensuring individuals have a sufficient amount of prescribed medication…

d.      Ensuring that regular care services … are delivered…

e.      Facilitating introduction…to religious leaders and communities…”

As stated in the Committee decision, the Council’s homelessness duties were highlighted in the discussion. The Committee is therefore aware that, as can be verified by BDC’s Homelessness Department, the eviction will make Dale Farm residents homeless. How then does the Committee propose that BDC provide sustained support in facilitating school places, health providers/medication, care services, introductions to religious leaders and communities… if the Travellers are forced out of the area and onto the road indefinitely? If the Committee had genuinely reviewed the personal circumstances of the residents, it would have found out that there are many ill people and pregnant women who require regular medical attention (some awaiting operations at Basildon Hospital).  Residents who cannot read rely on their established relationship with the local pharmacy, which has developed a colour-coding system to ensure they take the right medication. There are many children attending school (and more to start next year) who will have no access to education if on the road.

If Basildon Council takes the personal circumstances of Dale Farm residents and its legal duties and responsibilities seriously, how can they go ahead with an eviction? The only way BDC can fulfil its obligations is if an alternative site, where the Travellers will have regular and appropriate access to doctors, schools, care providers, churches…, is designated for them to live on.

As reported in the Essex Chronicle, “Basildon Council has insisted it will seek a peaceful resolution at the site.” Dale Farm Travellers can only hope that this is an indication that BDC also sees that the provision of an alternative site is the peaceful, practical and legal decision. Not only would this solution allow BDC to carry out its own duties and responsibilities effectively, but would also demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the new EU strategy to integrate Gypsies and Travellers. The UK has been given until the end of this year to draw up a national plan to ensure that every homeless Traveller has access to suitable accommodation.

Following a link I put on twitter to an example of the many comments on her blog which I consider to be racist towards Travellers, I engaged in the following twitter conversation with @AmbushPredator:

Me – @AmbushPredator and cronies once again exemplifying local prejudice facing DaleFarm Travellers http://t.co/J2RnAbU (See  Anonymous comment)

AmbushPredator – Local people (and myself) would just like them to OBEY THE LAW like everyone else. What’s so hard to understand?

Me – I am local as well. DaleFarm Travellers just want somewhere to live together 
 
AmbushPredator – And you’re in the minority – the locals overwhelmingly want the planning laws upheld….hence the reason for the ragtag little invasion force of campaigners from places where they don’t have to live with them.

Me-  Many local people support DaleFarm Travellers.

AmbushPredator – There will be an eviction, there will finally be peace for the poor long-suffering folks who’ve had to put up with this…

Me-  Any “suffering” you have undergone should be taken seriously but you can’t blame all DaleFarm Travellers.

Me – I respect that there are many sides to DaleFarm issue but don’t respect “nuke the site” comments http://t.co/J2RnAbU

AmbushPredator – If you really respected the other’s opinions, you’d be persuading them to go not to stay.

Me – DaleFarm Travellers along with Basildon Council are trying to find alternative sites.

Me – DaleFarm Travellers are not villains. I am sad that you will be rejoicing that anyone would be made homeless.

AmbushPredator – I don’t like squatters either. Go figure. #breakingthelawisbadmkay

AmbushPredator – Some of them already have them, as the ‘Echo’ has pointed out.

Me – #Basildon Council agrees that many DaleFarm Travellers will be made homeless by their eviction

AmbushPredator – ‘Many’ but not all. And, frankly, *shrug*. It’s gone on long enough and wasted too much public money for me to care…

Me – I agree it is waste of public money and wouldn’t be necessary if councils provided required legal sites for Travellers

AmbushPredator – …law-breaking has consequences, and it’s time to face them.
 
Me – Planning laws were not designed to make people homeless

AmbushPredator – No, they were designed to ensure people obeyed the law. Everyone else does without a bleeding-heart focus group pleading for them to be spared the consequences of their actions. Time it was applied to these people too, EQUALLY.
 
Me – The law should be applied equally. Unfair that 90% of Traveller planning apps are denied in comparison to 20% overall.

AmbushPredator – Not unfair at all. Their reputation precedes them, after all. Maybe they should work on their image problems?

I am still left wondering if she not only encourages but also agrees with the “nuke the site” type comments that appear so frequently in response to her Dale Farm blogs.

The Echo site finally took off this comment from Eric the Red, Leigh-on-Sea (2:45p.m. Sun 17 April 2011)

“I think the late Kenny Everett had the best idea. “Round ‘em all up: put ‘em in a fiel.d and BOMB the ba$tards.”