Meriden Gypsy protesters vow to fight on

RESIDENTS who set up a protest camp after Gypsies moved onto greenbelt land have pledged to fight on as long as the travellers remain.

Solihull Borough Council was forced to take action against Residents Against Inappropriate Development, (RAID) as – like the gipsies it is trying to get evicted – it had not applied for planning permission for its Meriden camp.

Members of RAID abided by the council deadline on Monday and have written to the authority with a programme of voluntary withdrawal.

But David McGrath, chairman of the group, said his group was happy to comply with any order from the authority – as long as it was linked with the removal of the travellers.

Some 200 villagers have been diligently maintaining a 24-hour vigil for more than 625 days in the entrance to a builder’s yard on Eaves Green Lane, Meriden, to monitor the Travellers who moved there in May 2010.

Mr McGrath said: “It’s always easier to pick on law abiding tax payers and it’s simply unfair that we should be evicted before the travellers.

“The planning committee say that we don’t have permission to stay at the protest camp and we accept that. We at least will play by the rules.”