Dale Farm Eviction 'Has Created Health Hazard'

The eviction of Dale Farm last year has resulted in Travellers squeezing onto an adjacent site and living in squalor.

The neighbouring site has become a "health hazard" because of overcrowding, Basildon Council has said.

Half the pitches at the Oak Lane site now exceed the number of units stated in their planning regulations.

The road leading up to Dale Farm is also filled with illegally parked caravans.

At the last count, there were 16 crowding a lane.

Some came from the original illegal settlement but, the council says, there are also "new faces" on the scene.

"Our concern about this overcrowding is two-fold," council leader Tony Ball said.

"It is in breach of planning conditions but, more worryingly, it is dangerous for all concerned.

"The overcrowded conditions which the Travellers have created are both becoming increasingly insanitary and are a clear and present fire risk.

"Again we have made these concerns clear to the travellers and urged them to move away. They have refused to co-operate."

Mary-Anne Sheridan, a former Dale Farm resident now living on the road leading to the old site said: "We're living in misery with no proper water, toilets or electric. But we've nowhere else to go."

The council also revealed that provisional costs for the operation to clear Dale Farm have come in under budget.

The budget for both the police and council was estimated at £18m but the total cost to the council has now been calculated at approximately £4.8m.

This included an additional £1.6m which the council had to spend between September and October in legal costs at the High Court defending against last-minute injunctions and judicial reviews.

The police costs have been calculated at £2.4m compared with the £10m that was originally budgeted in the event of a worst-case scenario.

Leader of the Council Tony Ball says he is pleased the costs were kept down but he is "... annoyed that £1.6m was added to our final bill by the delay and legal costs incurred between September and October when the travellers launched their last-minute legal challenge against the Council's right to clear Dale Farm".

He added: "The ongoing saga around Dale Farm continues to sadden and annoy me in equal measure. In the long term it serves nobody's ends. This is a difficult challenge for any council but we are duty bound to see the law is upheld and that is what we will continue to do, for however long it takes."

Since the Travellers left Dale Farm in late October, the council has removed all fixed structures and dug up the roads, pavements and pitches.