Dad-of-six would rather be jailed than leave Navestock Traveller site - Essex

From the Brentwood Gazette

A TRAVELLER says he fears losing his home more than prison, as the authorities move to evict his family from their Navestock settlement.

In a fight that has reached Whitehall, father-of-six Bill Thursting, 47, says he would feel like a 'caged bird' and could lose his livelihood if, as planned, his family is moved into temporary housing.

"If they said to me 'move off or go to prison for six months' they'd have to take me to prison," he said.

"If I had the option to go away for three months and come out and I'm still there, I'm happy. I just want them to leave me alone.

"I've got nowhere to go. If they're offering me temporary housing, that's no use."

The dispute has rumbled on for more than a decade, after the former owner of the land built stables on the site, on which Brentwood Borough Council has issued an enforcement notice.

Things came to a head when he applied for permission to legitimise the current structures in August last year.

But in September, planning minister Nick Boles overturned the planning inspector's decision to allow approval of the structures.

Traveller settlements are an emotive issue in the rural area, which has many large pitches.

Last year, the Gazette revealed that Navestock Parish Council spent around £100,000 to purchase a field in Navestock Side from the church to prevent Travellers moving onto the site.

Neighbour Navestock parish councillor David Williams says he gets on well with Mr Thursting but welcomes the new tough stance, which is often lacking from the council.

He said: "He's saying he's a Traveller – he's not a Traveller, he wants to set up home there.

"Travellers are marvellous people and they used to travel around here but now it's an excuse to try and get a property.

"If you have that rule to allow people to build anywhere you might as well throw planning out of the window.

"No one's picking on these people but we do have a problem in Navestock with so-called Travellers."

At a Strategy and Policy Board meeting on March 19, acting head of planning Tony Pierce admitted: "In this case it is possible that work would have to be done with adjoining housing authorities as well."

Mr Thursting says his family went on the road after his grandfather's Blackmore home was subject to a compulsory purchase by the council to make way for new bungalows.

Having lived in the borough since birth, he says the thought of moving his family elsewhere does not appeal to him and that without plenty of space he would not be able to park his caged van he uses for work.

"It's no good to me, it's got to be in Brentwood. They can't park me with some other council," he said.

"They're going to move me into the first place they find.

"Imagine my Ford Transit in a housing estate, I couldn't afford to even park it."

The council's draft Local Development Plan 2015-30 has outlined plans to approve 20 pitches (around 40 caravans) for approval – nine in Navestock.

Last October, the Brentwood Gypsy Support Group responded to the plans recommending "other alternatives should also be included in the site allocation process, such as smaller sites to accommodate extended families."

Brentwood Borough Council's chairman of the Strategy and Policy Board, Councillor Louise McKinlay, said: "Council officers have sought a meeting with the site owner and the occupants as to how we can work with them to achieve the return of the site to an appropriate green belt use.

"There is a long planning enforcement history to the plot and the council will use its powers for removal, if necessary.

"The council continues with action against owners and occupants of other unauthorised Traveller sites."

Mr Thursting met with planning officials at the Town Hall on Thursday to discuss the future of the site.

Behind the story

PLANNING minister Nick Boles moved to overrule two decisions to grant temporary planning permission for Traveller sites in Navestock last September.

Brentwood and Ongar MP Eric Pickles' junior minister stepped in to overturn Brentwood Borough Council planning inspectors' decisions on Mr Thursting's land, Hunters Green, and at Lizvale Farm in Goatswood Lane.

Following an appeal, inspector David Smith had said permission should be granted for three years to accommodate Mr Thursting, his wife and six children aged two to nine, including his autistic four-year-old son.

Boles acknowledged the likelihood of the "family losing their home" and he insisted "the harm to the green belt and other harm is such that dismissal of the appeal is a necessary and proportionate response."

The decision to move on families at Lizvale Farm came after the shooting of British Olympic boxing hopeful Martin Ward.

The shooting led to an emergency meeting held in the village, as settled residents vented their frustrations at the number of pitches in the area.

Previously, inspector Bridget Campbell recommended the enforcement notices on the site should be quashed and a five-year temporary planning permission granted. The council's "failure to demonstrate an up-to-date five-year supply of deliverable sites" was a "significant" factor, she said.

Despite accepting "substantial and pressing need" for more Gypsy pitches in Brentwood, Boles has decided the families – including "at least 23 children, toddlers and babies" – should be evicted.

Boles's actions brought concern from the former Planning Inspectorate deputy chief executive Leonora Rozee, who said ministers were interpreting planning laws differently to inspectors with the bar set "very high" for Gypsy and Traveller sites.