Despite protests from residents and supporters, bailiffs and bulldozers descended on Hovefields on Tuesday, 7 September, to clear seven pitches and to forcibly remove the Traveller families living on them.  Several of the families were in the process of pursuing homeless applications with Basildon District Council in anticipation of such an eviction. As there has not yet been a response to these applications by the Council, the families are left with nowhere to go following their removal from their homes at Hovefields. 

The eviction from their homes on Tuesday was just the beginning of an ongoing series of evictions for the Hovefield Travellers. Four of the families (including seven children and a pregnant woman) have been moved on at least three times by police using Section 61 powers from the 1994 Crimal Justice Act.  At least one of the Section 61 notices was served by police to the families in the middle of the night.  The families have attempted to stop on unoccupied Home and Communities Agency land, as they had been informed that the Agency had offered the land to Basildon District Council specifically for Travellers.