Travellers at overcrowded Brent site asked to leave by council

BBC News

a day ago

Irish Travellers living on an authorised site in north London have been sent letters asking many of them to leave due to overcrowding. The breach notices from Brent Council said the proximity of mobile homes and caravans within Lynton Close in Neasden was a fire risk and posed an "intolerable risk to life".It said "bricks-and-mortar" temporary accommodation was available for established residents to move into, however many called the offer "culturally inappropriate". Bernie Corcoran, 58, has lived in Lynton Close since it opened in 1997. He said: "We're not just going to get up and leave, we're going to make a stand."
Mr Corcoran, who is considered by residents as one of the elders in the community, said he had always accompanied council representatives any time they visited the site. "If they're coming down here to evict everyone, they'll have to have the British army with them," he told the BBC.Nearby, Brigid Corcoran, 48, of no relation to Mr Corcoran, pointed to a mobile home close to her own. "That's my daughter's home. She lives there, she needs that," she said. She said Brent Council had asked for it to be removed. "If I don't agree to that, I get an eviction," she said.In early April, a wave of "notices for breach of licence" were sent to residents from the council, beginning a process of civil litigation.Mrs Corcoran believes she is one of roughly 300 residents, including 90 children, who face eviction if they do not comply with the council's demands "to bring the site within safe and legal limits".Residents were told that voluntary compliance was encouraged "to avoid the need for legal escalation".
Lynton Close, which opened with 31 pitches, has become densely populated over the years and overcrowding is not a new issue.A report by Brent Council estimated there were now as many as 74 mobile homes on site.In 2017, months after the Grenfell Tower fire, Brent Council published a report on the traveller site and described space between individual homes and neighbouring pitches as "practically non-existent", and said this posed a fire risk.It said the risk of a fire spreading would reduce if a gap of 19ft 7in (6m) was "maintained between each individual residence" or "a fire-resisting wall" was built between each residence.Residents who the BBC spoke to said that neither of the mitigation measures was discussed with them nor implemented.When the BBC asked Brent Council about any efforts to complete the work that the 2017 report requested, the council did not respond on that point, but said the site's most recent risk assessment superseded the 2017 report.
A London Fire Brigade officer who previously worked with the council on making Lynton Close more fire secure said he installed about 70 smoke alarms " in every van and mobile home that we could".
Brent Council said the site's level of overcrowding had become an "intolerable risk to life" and told residents that it had accommodation in the borough ready for them to move into."The properties that we have found and matched families to are available now. They are all in Brent and have been matched to the specific requirements of families," the local authority told residents in a letter in April.One woman, who did not want to be identified and who cannot read, told the BBC that the council asked her to sign a document relating to its offer of a temporary property.However, she said she did not realise that she and her family may end up outside the borough if she signed the document.Kim Wright, chief executive of the council, apologised to the family and said established residents were assured there was "safe, affordable, secure, bricks-and-mortar accommodation for them in Brent".
Some residents have left the site in an effort to comply with the council's breach notices.In early May, the BBC observed one family leave Lynton Close, towing their mobile home with a pick-up truck. "We'll try to find a Tesco or Asda car park, or some vacant land somewhere," the driver said.
Dr Nancy Hawker from non-profit organisation London Gypsy and Travellers said some of the Lynton Close residents had been made homeless."The council had promised to accommodate anyone displaced as a result of the council's orders, but they have broken their promise," Dr Hawker said."We have found where residents of Lynton Close have agreed - under pressure of threats of wholesale site closure - to move at the council's behest, they have been denied council accommodation, and have been made homeless as a result."
Ms Wright said she would not comment on the specifics of individual cases, adding that residents who were not deemed to be "established residents" would not receive the same housing offer."Any members of the community who weren't living there in April as an established resident absolutely will be supported through our homelessness program," she said.
Local Labour MP Dawn Butler wrote to Brent Council's chief executive "deeply concerned" by what she saw and heard from residents after visiting the site in May. "Many families feel they are being displaced once again without consideration, echoing generational trauma," she said in a letter.Ms Wright said the council was not conducting "enforcement evictions"."What we've been doing with the residents is working with them really constructively in the last few months," she said."We recognise that there have been some mental health concerns and some anxiety and distress on the site and no-one wants to be in the position to see that."We have put in place a package of support for them through a community support day."
Many Lynton Close residents told the BBC that they feared speaking publicly about what was happening in case they were treated unfairly.Many also said they had no intention of moving into the bricks-and-mortar accommodation being offered by the council and called it "culturally inappropriate".Ms Wright said: "I recognise that bricks and mortar is not their chosen lifestyle."We have a situation at the moment where that site is unsafe and there are overcrowded living conditions and no responsible landlord wants to see their tenants living in those conditions."We've been clear with any family who is interested in moving that it would be a temporary relocation for them and we have already had two families that have moved off the site into bricks and mortar on a temporary basis."