Runneymead Trust
I recently noticed that Lib Dem peer Lord Avebury has written a letter to the Conservative Party regarding its policy on Gypsies and Travellers. The policy, outlined in a green paper earlier this year, states that the Tories will provide stronger enforcement powers to “tackle unauthorised development and illegal trespass”.
In his letter, Avebury – an ardent campaigner on the rights of Gypsies and Travellers – argues that in its paper the party has expressed “no acknowledgement of the exclusion suffered by Gypsies and Travellers due to a national shortage of sites” and accuses their policy of being under-researched. He also argues that their stance will provoke community tensions in the run up to the election.
Criticism of the policy comes weeks after the government launched guidance encouraging local authorities to use ASBOs against Gypsies and Travellers. The Irish Traveller Movement in Britain wrote to the government criticizing the decision, a letter which was supported by Runnymede.
Lord Avebury calls for fairer Gypsy and Traveller policies
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I do agree with Lord Avebury that councils must provide more sites for Travellers and Gypsies, also for government to be more understanding to the needs of the excluded race, things must change to bring Gypsies and Travellers to the fore, and provide planning directives to help the accommodation needs that the settled community take for granted. Labour almost got it right but the time scale killed it off before it could be Implemented properly. They hate them when they travel and hate them when they stop, and Cameron has the audacity to say the good times are over (what good times) Life is a struggle everyday.
We soundly second what you say.
It’s our understanding that whereas 90% of Gypsy planning applications are refused, 90% of house dwellers’ planning applications are allowed. This coupled with the Criminal Justice Act which means that in the face of a chronic shortfall in offical pitches in the South West a Travelling family cannot stop in visible places without being asked to move on under the threat of immediate confiscation of van and trailer on non compliance. They don’t need a Court oder to evict you from the Public Highway and take away your home and livelyhood if you cannot move on. We are told a Travelling family needs at least 4-8 weeks in one place to earn enough cash to be able move on.
The above situation has caused the Gypsy Community increasingly to speak of ethnic cleansing.
are you guys in the real world. get a job that pays taxes like the rest of us, respect the law and maybe we’d take you serious. this isnt racist is just fact, to be accepted in society you need to behave like everyone else and contribute like everyone else. what makes me laugh the most is so called travellers who now live in houses trying to make a quick buck by asking for planning permissions on land in green belt areas, but hiding under the guise they are still travellers and using every trick in the book that favour discrimination against travellers.
Well fadsf@hotmail where do we start?
First we do have jobs and see around 60% of our income taken in taxes just like anybody else in the UK. We see that you know nothing of the Gypsy community otherwise your comments would be simply insane. The community has the highest rate of infant mortality, the lowest average life expectancy, the lowest rate of literacy and the lowest per capita income of any UK citizens. We say this to suggest that you understand that gypsies have to work twice as hard to “stay in the same place” as housedwellers. Gypsies in business for instance do not tell people they are gypsy. Their experience tells them that would be a good way to lose customers. We must advise you that it’s gypsies that do not have houses that try to develop land in the way you complain of. We would also like to remind you that whereas 90% of house dwellers planning applications are agreed, 90% of gypsy applications re turned down. This in our experience fits perfectly with the prejudice, discrimination, alienation & violence experienced by the gypsy community perpetrated by house dwellers. We suppose that in other contexts you may talk about an Englishman’s home is his castle. This obviously doesn’t apply equally to all uk citizens in your world.
We wish you luck in making friends and would suggest that learn more about gypsies (and perhaps other British people) before sounding off. Use our handy search engine to look for “the Pariah Syndrome” article on our site. It may help you to get things in perspective.
Good morning,
Is there any way that We can bring, giorgios and gypsies all together, ? well if this is the case, let’s get into the problem, and let’s here a discussion between the parties and try to coexist meanwhile find a solution.
Thankyou Juan for your comments. Your sentiments are appreciated.
You must understand however that Gypsies have co-existed with House-dwellers for hundreds of years already. Discussions between the parties have been going on as long as that. You will find many links on this site to Gypsy and Traveller websites and organisations. We think that House-dwellers owe themselves the time to research the needs of this UK community. We have already suggested: http://web.archive.org/web/20080802212237/http://www.geocities.com/Paris/5121/pariah-contents.htm
We heard a story which we feel evocative of the issues. Of a grandfather living the traditional way in a caravan who had his medals (won for bravery during World War 2) confiscated by hostile policemen. Until they were forced to offer to return them some considerable time later. But only if he went to the Police Station to collect them. Their initial reasoning was that the medals must have been stolen; until they found through official channels that they belonged to the Gypsy.