On 12 January 2004 one of the very few uplifting victories for Travellers facing eviction occurred at Bulkington Fields, when over 100 Travellers living at the site dug ditches, built barricades, and resisted together a shameful eviction of the families from land
they owned. The successful battle against bailiffs (Constant and Co) and the council gave the Travellers time to get an injunction until their case was decided at High Court, bringing up issues of caused homelessness under the Human Rights Act. They lost this case and knew they faced imminent eviction, but thought they might receive some notice of the day that they would be forced off their land they were wrong.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3387447.stm
In the early morning hours of Wedenesday, 30 June an estimated 100 bailiffs and police in riot gear without any prior warning stormed the site and forcefully evicted the families from their homes and land, arresting 4 people. Their land paid for in full has been repossessed by the council to cover the cost of the eviction. Any hope for continuity,
education, or stability for their children has lost for now.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3852573.stm
In protest, the Travellers are now squatting local land. We are waiting to see what support they need. In the meantime, we are asking people to do what little is possible at the moment and send letters of protest to Nuneaton council at the email addresses listed below.
Protest to: planning@nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk
legal@nuneatonandbedworth.gov.uk
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Four held as travellers evicted BBC News
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3852573.stm
Four people have been arrested on suspicion of a breach of the peace as six families of travellers were evicted from a plot of land in Warwickshire.
About 100 police officers and bailiffs moved in to the site in Wolvey Road, Bulkington, at 0730 BST on Wednesday.
The travellers had already lost a fight in the High Court to stay on the land.
The council, which has offered to re-house the families, had to postpone an earlier eviction attempt when the group set fire to caravans to deter bailiffs.
Police said that all four people arrested have since been released without charge.
Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council has been trying for years to get the travellers to leave the site, which they own but built on without planning permission.
A spokesman for the travellers said bailiffs and police in riot gear turned up at the site on Wednesday morning.
“Only six out of the normal 20 families are on the site as the rest are off travelling.
“When they return they will have no homes,” he told BBC News Online.
“There are lots of bailiffs here and police in riot gear carrying batons are stood behind them.
“They don’t understand that we have nowhere to go, we’re just going to have to pack up and pull into the nearest lay-by.”
About 20 families have been living on land for three years.
The council offered to re-house the families in permanent homes after winning an eviction order at the High Court in November.
The group refused the offer on the basis that the houses would not be compatible with their way of life.
David Wilshaw, the solicitor representing the travellers, told BBC News Online he was trying to find ways to protect the group.
“A High Court judge told the local authority there should be cooperation, but I don’t call bailiffs turning up on the doorstep at 7 or 8am without prior warning co-operation by any means.”
But Nuneaton and Bedworth Borough Council denied it had acted unreasonably.
Alan Franks, director of environmental services, said: “I would argue they (the travellers) had plenty of advance notice to leave the site.
“This unlawful development has been on site in excess of three years.”
Although the travellers own the site in Bulkington, they were served with an eviction order because they put up fences and driveways on the green belt land without planning permission.
The council postponed an eviction in January after the group dug trenches, formed a human shield and set fire to caravans to prevent bailiffs from evicting them.
But after two years of legal wrangling, which cost the local authority just under £100,000, the High Court last month upheld an earlier ruling that the authority was within its rights to evict the families.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/england/coventry_warwickshire/3852573.stm
