Meriden villagers threatened with eviction over Gypsy protest

Residents who have been campaigning against a Gypsy camp on green belt land in their village of Meriden face being removed from the protest stie for breaking planning laws.

Protesters from Meriden's Residents Against Illegal Development (RAID) set up the camp in May last year and have remained there every day since to highlight the illegal development in the picturesque West Midlands village.

B
ut, like the travellers who have angered them, they did not apply for planning permission and now their application and subsequent appeal has been turned down.

It is likely the objectors, who have been camped outside the site 24/7 for 585 days, will be forced to pack up their caravan and leave the area before the Travellers.

David McGrath, chairman of Meriden RAID, said: "It's 100 per cent likely that enforcement action will be taken against us before members of the Traveller community.

"They know exactly what they are doing. The reality is they can tie the legal system in knots.

We will be holding a public meeting of RAID supporters what our options are and what decisions we can take to move forward.

"This protest is not going away. We may alter one or two things about it but RAID is not going anywhere."

RAID are being accused of doing the same thing as the Travellers, damaging the green belt - and a spokesperson from Solihull Borough Council confirmed the planning committee is due to meet at the end of the month to discuss the possibility of launching legal action against the protesters.

But despite the threat of an eviction notice coming their way in the new year, the RAID chairman is adamant that they will not be going anywhere.

"The council will be looking at the state of the camp to see about evicting us," added Mr McGrath.

"They are meeting on December 21 and will let us know their decision early in the new year.

"We are committed to keeping our campaign process going. We need to discuss our options and we have a public meeting with our own supporters coming up to agree our next step in the campaign.

"If the camp continues to serve a useful purpose then it will stay."

"We need to discuss our options and we have."

The long-running protest, which was overshadowed by the large-scale Dale Farm eviction in October, has been a frustrating one for villagers - who were disappointed to learn that the travellers will remain on the site until at least March when the council will return to the High Court to apply for permission to evict them.

And Mr McGrath has denied that by continuing to protest on the illegal camp Meriden RAID were no better than the people they are campaigning to remove.

"There's no comparison," he said. "We are not here for residential or commercial reasons.

"We are not seeking to be here for any great length of time.

"And we are not in a field. We are set up in a builders yard on an area of hard standing and we are having no impact on the environment.

"They have dug up acres of land and now the area looks liken a muddy quagmire."

The protesters have maintained a 24-hour presence on the illegal camp for 585 days - a process which began when Gypsies sent diggers in to excavate the green belt land without permission.

Story in Coventry Telegraph and Daily Mail