Outrage as judge rules travellers who illegally developed Green Belt land on bank holiday 'had best intentions'

Published 15th Oct 2009

A High Court judge has caused outrage by ruling that a group of travellers did not act in a 'cynical or ruthless' way when they built an illegal site over a bank holiday weekend.

The six families chose the Easter break, when planning officers were off work, to put down 1,000 tons of hardcore on a green belt field.

But yesterday Mr Justice Stadlen rejected the local council's application to evict the travellers from the village of Blackmore in Essex, saying the families acted with the 'best intentions to comply with planning law'.

Conservative Party chairman Eric Pickles, the local MP, said: 'It just shows how out of touch the judiciary is on these issues.

Mr Justice Stadlen has ruled that the travellers were not acting cynically

'The people of Blackmore will feel the law has let them down and they are right.

'It shows that use of force and direct action has trodden the rights of the people of Blackmore into the dust. The law needs to be changed.'

Keith Parker, who was chairman of Brentwood Borough Council's planning committee when the site was built, said: 'Of course it was cynical.

'They never came and asked for advice from Brentwood Council, they just arrived on site. It's a normal ploy.

'It's difficult to explain to the general public that their conservatory, their extension, or balcony doesn't comply with planning legislation when another group of people can ride roughshod over it.'

Council leader Louise McKinlay said she was 'greatly disappointed' by the court's decision and would be seeking legal advice on how to respond.

The families are believed to have bought the land from another traveller for £130,000 on April 9 this year.

At 7am the following day - Good Friday - 20-ton trucks thundered on to the three-acre site. Over the weekend plots for 12 caravans housing 17 adults and three children were built.

When council officers returned from the long weekend the travellers were ordered to stop all work and a planning application was refused on the grounds that it was inappropriate development in the green belt.

The families lodged an appeal, which was adjourned until January.

Judge Stadlen said they had a good chance of winning planning permission, adding that the hardship of evicting the families outweighed the damage to the environment.

After the hearing one of the travellers, Thomas Loveridge, admitted the group had broken the law but blamed the council for failing to supply enough legal travellers' sites.

The Blackmore camp is 12 miles from another illegal travellers' site at Crays Hill in Essex which was developed ten years ago and still has hundreds of people living on it, despite numerous legal rulings that they should be evicted.

Source: ' Daily Mail '

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