January 23, 2009, Basildon, UK: A day after a British Court of Appeal ruling paved the way for eviction from their homes, Traveller families at the Dale Farm settlement in southeast England are preparing for the worst.

Today, Kathleen McCarthy, vice-chair of Dale Farm Housing Association, submitted a joint homeless application on behalf of some 300 residents of the settlement. Next week, scores of other residents will register as homeless with Basildon District Council. Council leader Malcolm Buckley has conceded that the Council has a duty to provide accommodation for everyone whose application is accepted.

The processing of applications could take weeks.

The Travellers plan to meet Sunday to decide what can be done legally to counter the appeals court ruling, including a possible appeal to the House of Lords. For now, it is uncertain whether the UK’s highest court will agree to hear the case.

An application to the European Human Rights Court is also a possibility, but due to the long delay involved with that court, it is doubtful that British judges would grant a stay on the eviction while the case proceeded.

Some men at Dale Farm have vowed not to abandon their homes without a fight. But if they must go, plans are being made to move to nearby land that the community presently uses for grazing horses.

“We can legally camp on this land for up to a month,” said Dale Farm Housing Association Chairman Richard Sheridan, who is also President of the Gypsy Council. “If we do that, the Council will be faced with another long legal battle to get us off.”

Talks have already been held with the Red Cross, which has donated a large tent for what would initially be a tent city. Some 25 wooden huts, currently in use at Dale Farm, would be relocated.

In the event of an eviction, the local Catholic church is also willing to provide temporary shelter for mothers, children, the sick and elderly in two church halls. Transport would be provided by the Red Cross and other agencies, including Essex Racial Equality Council.

Basildon’s Labour Party has called the eviction decision “racially tainted, and some clergy have referred to it as an act of ethnic cleansing. Parliament member Julie Morgan has endorsed an appeal by Dale Farm to the European Union’s Civil Protection agency, asking for help in averting a humanitarian disaster. In addition, the UK Children’s Commissioner is insisting that the Basildon Council spell out what steps it will take to ensure the safety of children during an eviction.

Meanwhile, the Gypsy Council is assembling a team of human rights monitors that would oversee any potential eviction. The team will be headed by Gypsy Council Secretary Joseph Jones, who was recently appointed as an expert to the United Nations Advisory Group on Forced Evictions.

“The UN has approved the setting up in London of an eviction monitoring mission,” Mr Jones explained. “Our first priority will be to report on the conduct of any eviction attempt at Dale Farm.”

So far, those who have offered their services as monitors include Lord Eric Avebury, Parliament member Nick Harvey, and Dr Dimitrina Petrova, director of the Equal Rights Trust.