22-05-2025
Council wrong to evict travellers, judge rules
A group of travellers have won a landmark court case against a council to stay at a park-and-ride after a judge ruled they were wrongly ordered to leave.
Medway Council had tried to remove a set of Romani gipsy families who had pitched up on the Wigmore Coach Park, off the M2.
The group of 15 adults and 14 children were moved to the location by the local authority in the summer of 2023 and granted permission to stay at the site for three months if they paid a monthly fee.
But in October, they were handed a notice to leave, with the council saying they planned to sell the land in the near future.
However, a judge has now ruled that the local authority had interfered with their human rights by trying to evict them from the land, 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 site.
A solicitor acting for some of the group described the court win as the first of its kind in a decade.
Canterbury Crown Court heard that the group of travellers were moved to the site, which was a park-and-ride to London until the pandemic, by the local authority in July 2023.
They had originally pitched up at Laburnum Road Recreation Ground in Strood in Kent, and council officers discovered that some members were 'heavily pregnant' and that others were suffering from 'serious health conditions'.
They were granted permission to stay at the Wigmore site for three months, under the condition that they paid a weekly licence fee of £285 and adhered to certain rules.
But in October of that year, the council issued them a notice to leave the site despite the group insisting they had kept to the stated rules.
When they didn't leave, a possession order for the land was issued at the end of the year.
Medway council claimed its reason for issuing the possession order was that it had planned to sell the land in the 'near future', in a bid to address ongoing funding issues.
But on the first day of the Crown Court hearing, it was revealed no steps had been taken to sell it.
It also accepted that it had not set pitch targets which make 'satisfactory provision' for gipsy and traveller sites – of which there is a chronic national shortage – as it does not have a local plan in place.
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.
'No one wants to deal with you'
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.'
She added: '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.'
Cllr Louwella Prenter 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.'
The group have applied for planning permission to turn the park and ride, previously used by those commuting to London on Kings Ferry coach services, into an official traveller site.
An initial planning application was submitted last May but was refused two months later.
