Travellers 'will not leave illegal site' in Doncaster - Yorkshire

From the BBC

Up to 30 Travellers facing eviction from a site at Askern near Doncaster have said they will not leave.

Doncaster Council said the families at the site on Moss Road at Askern did not have planning permission and must move.

The Travellers said they had made the site their home for three years and had children settled in schools.

The council said the Travellers had been offered other legal pitches in the area, but the Travellers said the alternative sites were not suitable.

Julie Smith, who lives at the site, said her children would be forced to leave school if they were evicted.

"They were bad at their education at first but since I've had them settled in school they have come on and are catching up to everyone else," she said.
'Stand together'

Another Traveller, Nathan Smith, said the alternative sites offered by the council were not appropriate.

He said they got on well with the local community and were settled in the area.

Mr Smith said: "We will not be going. We will get as many helpers as we can to stop being evicted. You have to stand together."

The council said it had issued a notice for the Travellers to clear the site, but did not say when it would take enforcement action.

Gary Wells, assistant director of strategic housing at the council, said: "At this moment in time there is no need for any additional pitches in Doncaster.

"There are a number of vacant pitches around the borough which Travellers at Moss Road have been offered