***** Dale Farm Eviction Crisis Reaches the British High Court London, February 14, 2008: The British High Court is considering an=20 appeal by 86 Traveller families at the Dale Farm site amidst growing=20 concern that their mass eviction would create a major medical emergency=20 in southeast England. The hearing started on Monday before Justice Collins, a senior judge on=20 the Court, and was expected to end on Friday. It is the most significant =
development yet in the long-running Dale Farm controversy, which is=20 testing Britain=E2=80=99s commitment to the protection of vulnerable mino= rities. The crisis began in June 2005, when the Basildon County Council ordered=20 the 86 families evicted from their homes at Dale Farm because they have=20 been denied planning permission. Dale Farm is in the Green Belt, which=20 is protected from development. Last week, the Dale Farm Housing Association, which represents the=20 Travellers, interviewed 17 families that face eviction and found an=20
86-year-old woman in a wheelchair; her 76-year-old brother, who has been =
deaf since birth; a 67-year-old cancer patient; a young mother who is=20 pregnant with twins; and two children with serious hearing disabilities. "The medical condition of the Dale Farm population =E2=80=93 particularly= =20 elderly, single mothers and children =E2=80=93 is precarious. Eviction wo= uld=20 create a medical crisis," says the Association report. The report was compiled with help from James Dasinger, a Peace Fellow=20 from The Advocacy Project (AP) who is volunteering with the Association. =
It has been given to Keith Lomax, the lawyer who is coordinating the=20 Travellers' legal defense team.
The poor health of the Dale Farm community is central to the Travellers' =
case, because under Britain's Human Rights Act the Basildon Council must =
show that the impact of eviction on the Travellers is outweighed by the=20 need to protect the Green Belt and respect the integrity of local plannin= g. But the Association's survey suggests that the risk to the Travellers'=20 health from eviction would far outweigh the impact of letting them stay. =
Once on the road, they would be unable to find regular treatment for=20 chronic ailments. The education of their children, who attend the local=20 primary school, would also be interrupted. The Basildon Council has refused to assess the impact of eviction on=20 race relations, as required by law, or find an alternative site for=20 Travellers. In December, the Council was told to find 81 new Traveller=20 housing plots by its own governing body, or Regional Assembly. Justice Collins said on Monday that he expected to rule on the appeal by =
Easter. While he gave no hint of the likely verdict, he described the=20 Council=E2=80=99s position as "unhelpful" on several occasions and said h= e would=20 call for a "rethink" of forced evictions. Nonetheless, few are ready to predict the outcome of the High Court=20 hearing. Two government ministers and several planning inspectors have=20 ruled against the Travellers since 2005. About forty Travellers hired a bus from Dale Farm and held a peaceful=20 demonstration at the Court on Monday, before attending the hearing in=20 the austere 126 year-old courthouse. Several said that reaching the High =
Court is a major achievement for their advocacy and expressed confidence =
in British justice. "Somebody out there must have a heart," said=20 Mary-Anne McCarthy, a 68-year-old widow. Zach Scott, from Georgetown University, served as the first AP Peace=20 Fellow at Dale Farm last summer. AP hopes that Mr Dasinger, his=20 successor, will help the Travellers reach out to the mainstream human=20 rights movement and develop an IT project for young Travellers. Last week, the Travellers received a strong endorsement from the Gypsy=20 Council, an influential UK-based advocacy group that plans to lobby all=20 members of the Basildon Council against eviction.
- AP has posted interviews and video footage of Dale Farm and the=20 demonstration outside the =
High Court.
- Read a timeline of the Dale Farm controversy=20 .