Showdown Looms With Ealing Common Travellers
Notice served on encampment to leave the site by the end of the day
(Picture: Ealing Common Conservatives)
A notice has been served on the travellers encampment on Ealing Common to leave the site by the end of this Thursday (30 August).
The notice has been issued to the group by Ealing Council under Section 77 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act which gives local authorities the power to require groups of travellers to vacate land on the public highway or which has been occupied without the consent of the landowner.
If the camp is still there at 5pm the police have received 'Section 61' powers to remove the travellers. This is a section of the same Act which requires the approval of a senior police officer. It can only be issued when there have been serious breaches of the peace or criminal disorder and the police have the resources in place to remove any group which has been served the order. A second notice period will be given to the travellers and if they are not gone by its expiry they may be subject to removal. If the encampment doesn't leave during the notice period, or if they return within 3 months, they would be committing an offence and could face 3 months in prison or a fine of up to £2,500. The notice period can be less than 24 hours.
The Council can also go to the local courts for an eviction and then a removal notice. The Police also have section 61 powers to remove the travellers.
There is growing anger in Ealing after illegal encampments have appeared a number of times this year, with Ealing Common being a particular focus. The owners of the Orion Park estate in Northfields, recently turned into a rubbish dump by a group of travellers, say the waste should be cleared by the weekend. The police say they cannot confirm it is the same group who are now on Ealing Common.
Local councillor David Millican and the Ealing Fields Residents Association have been working to get the Orion Park area cleaned. Network Homes, the landowners, say, ''We have now instructed a professional waste removal company to dispose of the rubbish at Orion Park. The contractor will be on site tomorrow and will have cleared the site by Saturday. All items will be safely bagged and disposed off at the borough’s waste handling plant and a road sweeper will be used to clear the site at the end of the job.
(Rubbish dumped at Orion Park. Picture: Ealing Fields Resident Association)
The second encampment appeared over the Bank Holiday weekend and residents reported a fire, which is believed to have badly damaged a tree. It's believed more caravans have now appeared in the southern section, and there have been complaints that the common is being ruined by racing quad bikes.
(Picture: Ealing Common Conservatives)
Cllr Joanna Dabrowska is pushing for a borough-wide injunction and is angry with the Council. She said, ''What needs to happen for Ealing Council to wake up? The common is yet again on fire, yet the council, being a bank holiday has no-one on duty. A recently-appointed traveller liaison officer is not the answer. We need to show that we will come down hard on those who are disrespectful towards our community, and are not welcome. Additionally, taxpayer-funded police and fire brigade time is wasted due to such nonchalant activities.”
Ealing Council say, ''A borough-wide injunction is not a sustainable solution. All incursions will have individual issues attached to them, which is why we have a statutory duty to carry out welfare checks before issuing notices. The council’s community safety and environment teams work together with the police to seek injunctions against those that are responsible for issues such as fly-tipping and are gathering evidence for use in civil and criminal actions against those individuals.”
August 30, 2018
