TRAVELLERS WHO left Dale Farm in Essex on Thursday have so far not turned up at illegal encampments elsewhere in the east of England, Conservative leader of Basildon Borough Council Tony Ball has said.
Forty-eight hour eviction notices were served yesterday at the 40 or so sites to be cleared at the encampment, with the work to begin on Monday. Just 30 people are on the lands, compared to several hundred at its height.
“We hardly slept last night, the kids just kept thinking about what had happened . . . I’m entitled to stay but it is not home any more. It felt very lonely in here,” said Margaret Flynn.
Like five others, Mrs Flynn’s family will be able to continue living at Dale Farm but only after the hard surfaces on her site is removed by the council. After that, she will be allowed, according to the terms of the court order, to move back on to the land.
Most of those who have left Dale Farm have moved on to plots belonging to other members of the Travelling community in the legal plot next door. But that is a temporary solution since those owners will lose licence to stay if they have too many caravans on their sites.
However, others have moved further afield to stay with relatives, including one elderly woman, who has moved to the Greenacres camp in Bedfordshire – the scene of an early-morning raid in September by police, who removed 24 men who they said had been held in slave-like conditions.
Following the departure of the activists on Thursday the police presence has been reduced.
Travellers insist that the fight for Dale Farm is not over. They say that the council will not be able to afford to carry out the terms of the court order, which makes clear that they are to remove all of the hardcore on the lands.
“We are here to make sure they go about their job lawfully. If they demolish walls, we will make sure they restore them . . . If they damage property they are not entitled to damage, we will claim for it,” said Gypsy council representative Candy Sheridan.
