Your blog is a completely biased set of reports that absolutely miss the point that these people have illegally developed land and flouted the laws of the land. In a democratic society there must not be rules applied differently to different sets of people. I am unable to develop my piece of land due to green belt planning rules, but the travellers seem to be able to get away with it. These people are not what you make out they are. They have (most of them) left other homes and now claim they are homeless. Many also have other plots around the country that they have illegally developed. Some of them profit by renting these out.

Please remember there is another side. Imagine if you worked all your life and struggled to buy a house in a village with pretty country views, and then all of a sudden a bunch of foreigners by that lovely countryside and build on it.

That these people then continue to develop and extend the camp against the law of the land is disgusting. That they were not kicked out and the land cleared long ago is disgusting. If a homeowner builds an extension or illegally develops in green belt it is torn down. Why do the travellers get away with it when the rest of us do not?

Your point about Basildon Council and the quotas is also extremely misleading – I recommend anybody to look at the East of England Regional Authority website and read the information there to see why it is such a joke that Basildon, which has the largest number of legal traveller homes (these people are mostly not gypsies)in the region, should be forced to make huge provision for many more when other local areas have no traveller sites at all, and are not being forced to take any.

If we have to support the poor travellers (many of whom seem to have VERY expensive cars) than that burden should be shared by all areas and not just Basildon and Thurrock.

There is just so much more to this than meets the eye. To balance the books You should go to http://www.echo-news.co.uk and search for traveller or travellers.

I admire your conviction and compassion, but it is seriously misplaced. These people do not need your help.

Zach, your naivety amazes me.

Other travellers know these people as “the millionaires” because of the vast amounts of money & property these people own, look how many of them claim benefits, legal aid, ect but on further inspection are found to have large sums of money in their bank accounts, sums so large the government cannot allow anybody with such large amounts to have legal aid or claim benefits. They all claim to have “nowhere else to go” yet have been found linked to properties in the midlands, the north, even abroad, these people are career criminals, its what their own country knows them as, hence the reason they were asked to leave Ireland, and they have not once disapointed, from violent attacks, to theft, its what they do.

The main argument here is the fact they see green belt land as a cheap alternative to land with planning permission, 2 very different things, they broke the law, they turned a few legal plots into the largest illegal traveller site in Europe, every year the site has got bigger & bigger, I honestly dont see what right you have to come here try and portray them as anything different, they have made the lives of locals hell, they arent disliked for no reason, they brought every bit of dislike onto themselves, these people are professional conmen, and you sir, fell for it hook, line & sinker.

Zach… I feel you have acheived very little if anything on your visit to the Uk to help out these poor travellers apart from bring your name and that of your country into disrupute.

Surely the fact that local opinion disagres with you counts for something, one only has to pick up a newpaper local to Dale Farm to see that these travellers are not wanted, they often appear mentioned in the local press for various crimes such as importing lethal sofas, benefit fraud and violent attacks.

Society is above give and take, they are all take, can you honestly think of anything they give to the local community ?

Everyone is missing the point. Yes the travellers are there ‘illegally’ but that is only because they cannot get planning permission due to discrimination in the system. An estimated 90% of their planning permission requests are denied, so where do you expect them to live? Zach should be applauded for helping to fight discrimination against people who simply want a place to build their home.

You cannot just give planning permission to 1000+ travllers in the countryside. But read the whole story, the travellers already ahve homes in ireland and the north of England. By giving them permission the land would have been built upon and then flipped for enormous profit. That is their reasoning for settling…they have no ties to Essex. These travllers are looking for cheap land to make a quick buck. it’s very complex but there are two sides to the story. It’s good that zach offers there side of the story. If these guys contributed (positively) to society (payed their tax) and did not just take then i wouldn’t mind. My firend had his throat cut by this lot and nearly died…I will never forgive them for that.

Zach, just by caring you were doing a wonderful job. This people are hugely misrepresented. There is good and bad in everyone, no matter where they are from or what there culture is.
Keep up the good work matey.
Love Lisa. X

quote from Kristina:

“Everyone is missing the point. Yes the travellers are there ‘illegally’ but that is only because they cannot get planning permissiondue to discrimination in the system. An estimated 90% of their planning permission requests are denied, so where do you expect them to live? Zach should be applauded for helping to fight discrimination against people who simply want a place to build their home.”
——————————————————————-

Your missing the point you idiot, its greenbelt land, its not for building on, infact a tiny minority of people ever get granted planning permission, THATS WHY ITS SO CHEAP, when you buy greenbelt land you are doing your bit for countryside preservation, you are buying a peice of land to ensure it gets looked after, nobody buys it expecting to get planning permission because its so rare anybody actually does.

90% of all greenbelt land planning requests are turned down, thats why the entire British countryside doesnt have houses on it you moron.

They had houses, many of them still have houses, some even have land & property abroad, thr land they did buy they paid for in cash, hundreds of thousands of pounds in cash, these arent victims of descrimination, these are criminals and the Britsh public has had enough of the violence and crime they bring with them wherever they go, they are conning the system & the taxpayer for their own financial gain.

Also, if they “simply want a place to build their home” they wouldnt have turned down every bit of legal land offered to them, they have put themselves in the positions they are in, they have nobody to blame but themselves, the public are sick of them.

Find out about the people your defending before you open your mouth, your talking garbage

Actually, the 90% figure is a country wide figure, for the entire UK not only for the Travellers looking to settle in Dale Farm and on the greenbelt more generally.

http://advocacynet.org/resource/761

Seriously, they just want space to build their homes! They always get denied planning permission, not just in Greenbelt areas.

Terry T.
Your comment: “Other Travellers know these people as ‘the millionaires’ because of the vast amounts of money & property these people own, look how many of them claim benefits, legal aid, etc. but on further inspection are found to have large sums of money in their bank accounts, sums so large the government cannot allow anybody with such large amounts to have legal aid or claim benefits. They all claim to have “nowhere else to go” yet have been found linked to properties in the midlands, the north, even abroad, these people are career criminals, its what their own country knows them as, hence the reason they were asked to leave Ireland, and they have not once disappointed, from violent attacks, to theft, its what they do.”

Ummm… Well there are nasty people in every society. That doesn’t mean every Traveller is like that even if you have 1 or 2 specific examples.

Zach will make a fine politician. He doesn’t seem to answer any of the awkward questions regarding tax or illegal activities.

Personal benefactor? Please explain. Were you sponsored to write a biased blog?

The last thing we need is another poor little rich boy who feels guilty that he wasn’t born poor.

Comment from: Don [Visitor]

Seriously, they just want space to build their homes! They always get denied planning permission, not just in Greenbelt areas.
08/23/07 @ 12:50

Don you are absolutely wrong. Just round the corner from me, Travellers have been given planning permission for their chalets, day rooms and touring caravans in empty plots of land in the plotlands where I live. Some of these are now rented out for profit. I, though am not allowed to extend my home, or build on the empty plot that I own. Why is this? Why am I discriminated against? Where are my human rights ? The fact is that the greenbelt planning laws should be applied equally to everybody. Dale Farm should not be allowed for this very reason. It is in Green belt and there are no reasons for it to be permitted.

domnule, cateva cuvinte in limba romana pentru noi te rugam frumos!!

evident, asta in amintirea anilor petrecuti in frumosul oras balan! go colts! go pacers!

“So Zach, you’re leaving us? When ya coming back to help us out some more? We could use you sticking around a bit longer.”

Translated into Dole Farm speak:

“So Zach, you’re feckin’ leaving us? When ya feckin’ coming back to feckin’ help us out some feckin’ more? We could feckin’ use you sticking around a bit feckin’ longer.”

“What right does a local council have to decide who lives where and in what number?”

Well Zach, considering they are the only “group” who contributes NOTHING but crime towards the local community, who also have to pay for every aspect of these criminals lives, I’d say they have every right.

Mike Paterson, dont even bother trying to explain yourself, these people know NOTHING except the biased, innacurate, 1-sided garbage that zach scott decides to tell them via his blog

none of these people have experienced the constant fear people living near the site have experienced, none of these people have experienced the relentless thefts and break-ins these travellers inflict upon the local community, they dont live with the abuse, the violence, they listen to some dumb canadians ramblings and take it as gospel, guys an idiot, and after reading this id say if i ever saw zach scott in basildon again id be hard-pressed to gaurantee his safety

Yet another article of a man having his property ruined by travellers, come on zach, cat got your toungue?

“the Echo revealed how 34-year-old Justin Mountfort has been left facing a bill for thousands after travellers trespassed on to his land and stayed for seven days.

They left a trail of destruction in their wake on his eight-acre field at Wayletts Farm, in Dunton Road, Dunton, and ruined the farmer’s £6,000 turf crop.”

And another one…come on zach, wheres all your talk about them being victims now? your starting to look stupid

“ROYAL Mail deliveries have been suspended to travellers at Crays Hill after a post man was ordered not to return to their site.

Royal Mail has stopped the postal service to parts of the Dale Farm traveller complex in Oak Lane after a postie received threats during his round.

Full story in tomorrow’s Echo.”

Mr. Paterson-

You hit upon a lot of important points in your response to my blog on 8-22. I think, however, that you are misinformed and are in need of some clarification.

First, the Travellers first developed Dale Farm under the auspices that it was Brown Belt land. The land where Dale Farm is located was a scrap yard that was legally purchased, cleaned up and then relocated on by Travellers, subsequently becoming Dale Farm.

The point is that the land was Brown Belt, not Green Belt, at the time when the Travellers moved on to it. They paid for the land and legally own it. It was only switched to Brown Belt land after the local mass hysteria that ensued once it was discovered that Travellers were moving on the land.

Second, I agree that all districts, whether they have a significant Traveller population or not, should have an equal amount of Traveller pitches. Travellers agree with this as well and are more than willing to move to another location as long as they are granted permanent residence. Since pitches in other areas have not been allocated, Travellers have decided to stay where they are..this makes sense to me.

Finally, I do understand that there is another side to this story. I have lived with the Travellers and seen both sides of the situation. My blogs, unlike many of your comments, are not anecdotal but, rather, real instances that occurred.

Can you say the same, or is all of your information coming from papers? Have you ever talked to a Traveller, or does your smug reassurance that you are right stem from the fact that you surround yourself with like-minded individuals who offer no conflicting opinions to your one-sided discussions?

funny how u cant despute any of the news reports of the violent, vile behaviour that eplains why they will never be excepted into society.

“The point is that the land was Brown Belt, not Green Belt, at the time when the Travellers moved on to it. They paid for the land and legally own it. It was only switched to Brown Belt land after the local mass hysteria that ensued once it was discovered that Travellers were moving on the land.”

WWRRRROONNGGG

they bought a peice of brown belt land, the ex-scrapyard, nobody disputes this, they then illegally expanded the site into the neighbouring greenbelt land, big enough to house the 51 illegal plots, it gets larger every year, they know full-well they are illegally expanding it, but they dont care, why would they? they are criminals.

“Since pitches in other areas have not been allocated”

they were given plenty of legal alternatives, but turned them all down, they chose dale farm for a reason, they were never gonna get given planning permission to descend in their hundreds of a quaint little village like crays hill otherwise

zach? do you really leave? your such a good guy zack, you help us a lot. don’t leave zack!

Zack what will be your next step after leaving? you has a great name on this field, what will asked for? Zack you a great man, every blog of you has a high quality information. Don’t leave.

Zach:( don’t leave us, your work blogs, article, strategies, tips and advice helps us a lot. i think you are one of the great marketer ever. Well i think you have a great better opportunity, all i can say is thanks a lot for a great lesson you share to us.