Wednesday 14 March 2012

Travellers' sites: Gypsy family urges people to stop believing stereotypes - Leicestershire

From the Leicester Mercury

Three generations of a Gypsy family have urged people to get to know the travelling community before making stereotyped judgements about them.

The women – all born in Leicestershire – spoke out after a meeting about Leicester City Council's plans for official pitches at Greengate Lane, Red Hill Way and Beaumont Way, on the northern edge of the city.

Some 600 people attended a meeting at Beaumont Leys Leisure Centre on Monday, to voice their concerns to city mayor Sir Peter Soulsby, who was heckled for defending the plans.

Kealey Price-Sly, 27, said: "The things people were saying about gypsies at that meeting – it's the last form of acceptable racism.

"They call us everything you can imagine. But we've heard it all before.

"Do people really think that we would make a conscious decision to be a Gypsy and face what we have to face every day of our lives?

"We did not choose this, we were born this way."

Kealey, who was brought up on unauthorised camps but now lives in a house in Aylestone, praised the small number of Travellers who were present at the meeting for keeping their cool.

She said the proposed camps would be a compromise – not just for the people who lived nearby, but also for the travelling community who would rather live in unauthorised sites.

She said: "That's our tradition – lots of Travellers feel trapped in homes.

"It is our way to be among our community. But we need more authorised camps because education is more important now than ever before to Gypsy families. It's easier for children to be in school at an authorised site, where you aren't constantly moved on."

The women said they have been spat at and pelted with bricks, just for pulling up at the side of the road.

Kealey's mum Julie Smith, 46, said she was angry when people said Gypsies should "go back to where they came from".

She said: "I'm a Leicester girl born and bred. We haven't just turned up here. That's just ridiculous. If people only took the time to get to know us, they would know that."

Julie's mother Mary Lee, 67, brought up her eight children on the move, before settling in the 1980s – first at an authorised camp, before buying a house in Braunstone. Her family have worked agricultural land in the county for decades.

She said: "We've been here longer than most of the houses in Beaumont Leys have been there."

She said it was upsetting to hear people accuse Travellers of being "bad people".

"There are good and bad in every community," she said.

"Look down your street and there are people you wouldn't leave your kids with. But we are all the same – Travellers and settled people – cut me and I bleed the same as you.

"There are good and bad among us all."

The proposed sites would cater for about 26 families and would be built on land already owned by the city council, set up using more than £1.5 million of Government cash.

The Travellers would pay rent, council tax and charges for gas, electricity and water.

Kealey said the sites should be in the areas proposed, because that is where many Travellers who have always lived in Leicester currently stay, and where their children go to school. She said there should be a mix of permanent and transit pitches.

Her grandmother Mrs Lee said: "Surely in all of the land in all of the country, there is a place for Travellers to live their lives."

Kealey is part of the Gypsy and Traveller Equality group, who speak to small groups of people in a bid to promote understanding and tackle stereotypes.

For more information call: 07534 713633, or e-mail:

pauline.burton@leics.gov.uk

The public have until Friday, April 13, to express views to the city council on the planned sites. To take part, visit:

www.leicester.gov.uk/ gypsyandtravellersites

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