Judge refuses bid to evict Gypsies from Gobowen site - Shropshire

From the Shropshire Star

Shropshire Council has failed in a High Court bid to remove a Gypsy family from a site they have occupied without planning permission, it has been revealed.

Councillor David Lloyd said officials at Shirehall made a legal challenge before Christmas in a bid to force Michelle and Jerry Berry and their family off land opposite Gobowen’s Henlle Park Golf Club.

But a judge sitting in Birmingham did not grant the enforcement order, he said.

Councillor Lloyd, who represents Gobowen, Selattyn and Weston Rhyn on the authority, said he hoped the long-running battle with Gypsy couple Michelle and Jerry Berry over their bid to be able to stay on land in Gobowen will come to a conclusion ‘imminently’.

He made the revelations at a meeting of the area’s local joint committee in Gobowen on Tuesday.

It comes after the couple lodged a second planning application to be allowed to stay on land near the golf club after an earlier one was rejected.

Councillor Lloyd said the fact there was a second bid meant a High Court judge decided not to issue an order forcing the family off the land.

He said: “The council went to the High Court in Birmingham to get an enforcement order. The judge decided because there was a planning application in the pipeline not to do that.

“The second bid is being dealt with imminently. Hopefully some positive action can be taken.”

After the meeting Councillor Lloyd said he hoped to see a conclusion to the row very soon. He said: “The judge wanted the second application to be determined before he decided on enforcement.

“The new application has been scrutinised by officers who are looking to make a decision in the very near future.

“Clearly there is a sense of frustration that this has not been resolved yet but you can’t rush the law.”

The Berry family has been on the site without permission since 2010. The new bid asks for one mobile home and one touring caravan pitch on the land.