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Fury as legal bid fails to remove gypsy camp
A RURAL community left "prisoners in their own homes" by an invasion of gypsies reacted with fury today after a court room battle to remove the travellers ended in a hollow victory.
Scarborough Council only partly succeeded in its first ever attempt to use the courts to force travellers illegally camping in public open space by Centurion Way, Crossgates estate, near Scarborough, to move on.
One application to force travellers present in the camp on Monday was granted by Scarborough Magistrates. But the other, covering further gypies who arrived over subsequent days, was not because the formalities have not been completed.
Legally, after serving the order on the travellers the council has to wait for 24 hours before enforcing the notice using powers available under the 1994 Criminal Justice Act.
However it was not clear what will happen next because Scarborough Council solicitor Michael Bell did not believe the council could act until it had authority to move on everyone present in the camp, which would involve further proceedings.
The Centurion Way residents are furious because the travellers invaded the same street last year to conduct their annual horse fair, which is supposed to take place in the nearby village of Seamer.
Scarborough Council allowed the situation last year to run its course, since the official temporary site had been reduced to a mud bath by torrential rain.
But this year they assured residents the same thing could not happen again. Stoney Haggs road leading into Seamer was closed so the travellers could camp by the wayside.
Council officials also advised caravans could use the old road leading to Seamer Carr tip. A security firm posted around the clock cover for Centurion Way, including placing a temporary barrier across the road, Scarborough magistrates heard.
But now 35 caravans were parked off Centurion Way and only seven on the official site. Travellers had requested the council transfer the water, washing and toilet facilities from the official site to Centurion Way, as the authority did last year.
But Mr Bell said the council had no intention of helping the travellers camp illegally when there was a perfectly good site only a mile's drive away.
Two dozen residents were in court. Louise Richardson told the hearing how gypsy children had sat on her fence throwing apples and sticks at her husband as he tried to lay a patio.
"None of them hit him but they were very close. I was very distressed. I went back into my house and sobbed," she added. She had also been reduced to tears while driving because the gypsy pony and traps were blocking the only access to Crossgates.
The court heard residents could not sleep, eat, or open their windows because of the constant yapping of dogs, the stench of horse manure, the whine of electrical generators and sight of gypsy children and dogs relieving themselves outside.
"I have had to keep my pets in. They are pacing my home and howling which is also keeping me awake. The travellers' pets have more freedom than my own," added Mrs Richardson.
Michael Barnes said residents had even started a self help group. "It is just so we can feel like some sort of community again which has been taken away from us by this invasion," he added.
"Everyone feels empty, drained tearful, frightened, almost as if life had come to an end." Carolyn Conlon said: "I feel like a prisoner in my own home."
Ward councillor Lucy Haycock told the bench: "The time has come to show the residents we do care about their way of life as well as the travellers' way of life."
However after the decisions were announced Mr Barnes said: "It is not even half a victory. There is obviously a loophole in the law and people are bitterly disappointed."
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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