Latest news with #WigmoreCoachPark
Daily Mail
09-06-2025
- Daily Mail
Travellers camped on park-and-ride win battle to stay after judge rules eviction by council was breach of human rights
A group of travellers have won a landmark court case to stay at a park-and-ride site after a judge ruled a council was wrong to try and evict them. Medway Council, in Kent, had tried to turf out the Romani Gypsy families who had set up home at the Wigmore Coach Park, off the M2. A court heard earlier this year how the group of 15 adults and 14 children were moved to the location by the local authority in the summer of 2023. They had been granted permission to stay at the site for three months if they paid a monthly fee and stuck to certain rules. But in October, they were handed an eviction notice, with the council saying they planned to sell the land in the near future. However, a judge has now ruled the authority had interfered with their human rights by trying to kick them out, after hearing no steps had been taken to sell the site. This means the travellers can remain in place - though they do not have a permanent right to stay at the car park. The court judgment - thought to be one of the first wins of its kind in the last decade - explained that circumstances 'may shift the balance in favour of eviction'. The group of families have applied for planning permission to turn the park and ride - previously used by those commuting to London - into an official traveller site. An initial planning application was submitted last May but was refused just two months later. An appeal against the refusal is due to take place on Wednesday. Concerning the eviction, Canterbury County Court heard the travellers were moved to the site, which was a park-and-ride until the pandemic, by the council in July 2023. They had originally pitched up at the nearby Laburnum Road Recreation Ground in Strood, and council officers discovered that some members were 'heavily pregnant' while others were suffering from 'serious health conditions'. They were granted permission to stay at Wigmore for three months, as long as they paid a weekly licence fee of £285 and stuck to certain rules. But in the October of that year, the council issued them a notice to leave despite the group insisting they had kept to the stated rules. When they didn't move on, a possession order for the land was issued at the end of the year. Medway Council claimed its reason for issuing the order was that it had planned to sell the land in the 'near future'. Pictured is one of the families who are based at the former park-and-ride facility But during the hearing at the county court it was revealed no steps had been taken to sell it. The authority also accepted it had not set pitch targets which make 'satisfactory provision' for gypsy and traveller sites - of which there is a chronic national shortage. It comes as some members of the group reported having had their names on waiting lists for as many as 10 different traveller sites over the last decade. Tina Herring, who lives at the site, said: 'I think that it's down to the council and the government to supply permanent places for each and every one who needs them and to not just keep moving us around because they're not going to solve the problem, are they? 'They just push it on from one county to another, and no one wants to deal with you. It's a vicious circle going round and round and round.' On the council's attempts to remove them, she added: 'When we got the lease for this, [the condition] was to keep things tidy, which we do anyway. We don't need to be told that. '"No anti-social behaviour" - we have no problems with the police. "No work, no fires, keep all these rules, and then we'll probably give you a longer lease". We've obeyed all the rules.' A solicitor acting for some of the group described the court win as the first of its kind in a decade. Medway Council, however, said it was deciding 'how best to move forward' - saying the decision was 'disappointing'. Cllr Louwella Prenter, Medway's housing boss, said: 'We are disappointed with the county court judgement not to grant possession of the former Wigmore commuter car park in Maidstone Road, back to Medway Council. 'This is a lengthy and detailed decision, and we will give it due consideration before deciding how best to move forward. 'Granting use of the site was only ever intended as a temporary three-month measure, and the car park is not deemed to be suitable as a long-term site for permanent occupation.' Previous investigations have shown that many local authorities in Kent are still failing to meet the accommodation needs of the travelling community, despite it being a legal requirement. After legislation was introduced allowing local authorities to evict, fine or arrest travellers setting up unauthorised encampments, they are often left being moved from roadside to roadside. Marie Conde, another member of the group, likened living there with the looming threat of eviction to a state of 'limbo'. 'You could never plan to make a Sunday roast because you knew you'd get a move,' she said. 'You could never plan to take the kids out for a day because you couldn't go and leave the place.' Ms Herring added: 'Everybody thinks this life is beautiful - it is, to an extent, but you can't lie your head down at night. 'You never know when that petrol bomb is going to be thrown at you. They've got to stand up and meet our needs instead of keep pushing us on.' The group is now 'praying' the planning permission application is granted. With no permanent place to stay, members of the group have no postcode and have no access to essential services such as healthcare and education. 'We're speaking for the children, the grandchildren and the great grandchildren and children to come,' Ms Herring said. 'They do need their schooling. They do need regular health checks from a doctor. Please, people, accept us - we've been here long enough. 'When are you going to accept us, as human beings? I don't want to hurt anybody by saying that, but we need to be accepted into society as equals.'
Daily Mail
26-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Traveller family WIN right to stay at car park after it is ruled their human rights were breached when council turfed them out - but they say it's not enough
A family of travellers who have won a landmark case to stay at a car park have insisted they will 'never stop fighting' for permanent residency. The group, comprising of 15 adults and 14 children, first arrived at the former park-and-ride site in July 2023, setting up home at the Wigmore Coach Park, just off the M2. Medway Council, based in Kent, had initially granted them permission to stay at the site for three months if they paid a monthly fee and stuck to a number of rules. However, in October last year, the local authority handed the Romani Gypsy family an eviction notice, stating that they had planned to sell the land, previously a park and ride used for those commuting to London, in the near future. Now, a judge has made the milestone judgement that the authority wrongly interfered with the group's human rights by attempting to turf them out, having heard that no steps were taken to sell the site. Speaking to MailOnline about the milestone case, described by one involved solicitor as the first of its kind in a decade, Julie White, who lives at the site, said: 'We're over the moon with the initial decision, it's like winning the lottery. To have somebody on our side that is willing to help us has been absolutely amazing.' However, much to the family's fury, the significant decision means that while the travellers can remain on the site for now, they still do not hold the permanent rights to stay at the car park. While an initial planning application was submitted last May, it was refused just two months later. An appeal against the refusal set to take place next Wednesday, with the family anxiously awaiting the verdict. Oldy Herring, 67, the eldest member of the family, described the battle with Medway Council as the 'fight of our lives'. He added: 'There's nowhere else we can go. If this place is not fit for us, then where is fit enough? 'We've been all over Kent. We've been pushed from pillar to post all of our lives, this is the only thing we have been given in our lives. 'People don't understand our lives or our culture. We don't cause any harm to anybody, we just want a home. We are literally begging for help.' The family said that the rules placed on them by the council when they first arrived at the site included 'no anti-social behaviour', 'no work', 'no complaints' and that they had 'to keep the place tidy'. They insisted that all of these rules have been 'strictly' followed and that the council has 'no good reason' for kicking them out. Relying on generators for electricity and water, the travellers currently pay £33 a month to the council for the bins and animals on the land. Now, as they fight for permanent residence, the family have indicated that the council's refusal to grant the planning application is bound to have 'worrying' impacts on their children's mental health. And, with no fixed place to stay, members of the group have no postcode and therefore have limited access to essential services such as healthcare and education. Marie Conde, who lives on the site alongside her husband and children, said: 'I do worry about the kids, moving them out of school would be awful for them. They have finally been accepted and been able to make friends, they're getting an education which is so important. 'It's the first time they've felt truly settled and accepted, how can they take that from them? 'We are decent people and a close family that deserve to be together. We just want to make this our permanent home and a place for our children and grandchildren, the next generation.' Speaking about the landmark case, described by one solicitor as the first of its kind in a decade, Julie White (pictured), who lives at the site, said: 'We're over the moon with the decision, it's like winning the lottery' Meanwhile, Tina Herring, 17, who spent the majority of her young childhood on the road, described the car park as 'the closest it's got to feeling like home'. The teenager added: 'Being here has made me feel so much more settled and safe, rather than being on the road all of the time. 'Not knowing what's going to happen next is so stressful for all of us, but especially on the younger kids.' While the family celebrated the decision as a 'turning point' and anxiously await the results of next Wednesday, Medway Council, however, said that it was deciding 'how best to move forward' - describing the judge's verdict as 'disappointing'. Cllr Louwella Prenter, Medway Council's Portfolio Holder for Housing and Homelessness, said: 'We are disappointed with the county court judgement not to grant possession of the former Wigmore commuter car park in Maidstone Road, back to Medway Council. Previous investigations have shown that many local authorities in Kent are still failing to meet the accommodation needs of the travelling community, despite it being a legal requirement 'This is a lengthy and detailed decision, and we will give it due consideration before deciding how best to move forward. 'Granting use of the site was only ever intended as a temporary three-month measure, and the car park is not deemed to be suitable as a long-term site for permanent occupation.' Previous investigations have shown that many local authorities in Kent are still failing to meet the accommodation needs of the travelling community, despite it being a legal requirement. After legislation was introduced allowing local authorities to evict, fine or arrest travellers setting up unauthorised encampments, they are often left being moved from roadside to roadside. In 2021, there were 5,405 people across Kent who identified as a Gypsy or Irish Traveller, representing up to 0.3 per cent of the population, according to the ONS. Meanwhile, an additional 2,225 people identified as Roma, amounting to 0.1 per cent of the population, with many of these individuals housed on traveller sites.
