Crays Hill, UK: In an effort to create some goodwill with neighbors, Travellers at the Dale Farm site have asked to join the Crays Hill Residents’ Association and have unveiled a plan to plant trees to improve the area.

At a meeting of the Dale Farm Housing and Residents’ Association, the Travellers agreed to plant 12 oak saplings along Oak Lane and invited Billericay MP John Baron to help plant the first tree. So far, neither Mr Baron nor the residents’ association has responded to the requests.

Tensions have run high between the Travellers and the surrounding community in Crays Hill for years. In 2005, the Basildon Council ordered the Travellers to leave Dale Farm because they were living illegally on the land. The Council reaffirmed the order in December 2007.

The Dale Farm Housing Association, a partner of The Advocacy Project, fought the evictions, and won a victory in May when a High Court judge halted the order indefinitely. The judge ruled that the Travellers could not find land elsewhere because of discrimination, and asked the Council to identify new housing plots for them.

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