Monday, 3 May 2010

Modern British Bank Holiday Traditions...

There's the day out to the seaside or afternoon spent gardening (in the unlikely event it isn't raining), or the day spent indoors (if it is raining) just relaxing, or doing DIY.

And now there's the traditional 'break the planning laws while the council is on holiday' by those 'disadvantaged' travelling folk who never seem to want to do any actual travelling...
It wasn't quite how they imagined spending the Bank Holiday.

But residents of a village in the heart of England found themselves having to form a human barricade to prevent a band of gipsies from building an illegal settlement.
Well, if it was as wet there as it was here, might as well do the council's job for them...
In time-honoured fashion, the gipsies rolled on to the green-belt site on Friday evening in the hope of exploiting the long weekend.

They hoped to establish their camp while council officials were off work and powerless to stop them.
Not entirely sure why they bother. Councils seem powerless to stop them no matter what they do...
But they reckoned without the resolve of villagers and farmers who have camped day and night outside the eight-acre camp to prevent building materials being taken in.

On Sunday, the villagers told how they had given up their Bank Holiday weekends to preserve the tranquillity of the village of Meriden in the countryside close to Coventry in the West Midlands.
Unfortunately, the villagers will eventually have to go back to work. While the travellers...

Well, you get the picture.
...Solihull Council called officers in from their Bank Holiday to issue a stop notice, which prohibits further development for the next 28 days.

Despite that, the gipsies were yesterday seen putting up a shed on the land, in apparent contravention of the order.
And why not? Nothing ever happens to them. There are no consequences to breaching the planning laws for them.
Around 40 villagers remained in Meriden on Sunday, watched by police to ensure there was no breach of the peace.
So they can send police to ensure there's no breach of the peace, but not to ensure there's no breach of council planning laws?

I wish the villagers well, but I can only see one way this is going to end.

11 comments:

Pavlov's Cat said...

I wonder which one standing by the brazier and keeping very quiet is the one who sold the land to Shifty O'Tool and Pat O'Tarmac in the first place?

"You just want a place to keep a few horses, but have no connection or roots to the area, well of course I believe you, fifty thousand OK? Used notes you say, no problem"

Jiks said...

The police couldn't have done something useful like arrest the "travellers" I suppose? They must have been breaking any number of laws if the plod had actually felt like doing anything.

But of course not, they were there acting as a security detail for the "travellers" instead. Another case of Britain turning into Backwards World.

I pass through Meridan a couple of times each month BTW and it is a beautiful place. Well, it was ...

JuliaM said...

"I wonder which one standing by the brazier and keeping very quiet is the one who sold the land to Shifty O'Tool and Pat O'Tarmac in the first place? "

Oh, yes. Apparently, the culprit was a building contractor:

"The land was sold to the group by building contractor Joe De Mulder for £50,000 just over a year ago."

I bet he doesn't get to drink in any local bars, if indeed he IS local!

"The police couldn't have done something useful like arrest the "travellers" I suppose? They must have been breaking any number of laws if the plod had actually felt like doing anything."

Quite. But then, that would be hard work, and someone in HQ would get upset about their 'rights', and there'd be loads of paperwork, and maybe some violence.

Better just to go looking for someon respectable, maybe taking pictures in the street or quoting bible verses. Much less hassle...

Pavlov's Cat said...

How queer that a building contractor should buy a plot of land that will never get planning permission this side of the End of Days

Perhaps he also wanted to keep a few horses or chickens and enjoy the country life, but found it too demanding.

Brian, follower of Deornoth said...

And why, pray, should he not sell his land to whoever he damn pleases?

English Viking said...

Surely it is a criminal offense not to shoot pikeys on sight?

Anonymous said...

@ English Viking...unfortunately it isn't but it should be. Ghastly human vermin protected by law!

SpiteK said...

It'll end up like this disgusting travesty. The gippo cunts moved in eight fucking YEARS ago, are still firmly esconced in what was once a beautiful picnic spot, in the middle of an Area of Great Landscape Value, right on the edge of an SSSI and the cunts are still there, soon to be given a full-on council funded permanent site.

Makes me fucking incandescent with anger.

Foxy Brown said...

But they've suffered terribly! Ah the tragedy of being part of an endangered minority, whose ancestors were oppressed (no doubt it was the evil English as always).

Maximum victimhood points.

blueknight said...

The problem is that breaching planning law in this way is not a crime so it does not carry any fine or punishment.
All a Council can do is issue an enforcement notice which orders the work to be ceased. The enforcement notice comes into force 28 days after issue.
If an urgent stop is required, a stop notice can be issued. The stop notice is only valid for 28 days, as it is designed to fill the gap between the issue date and the effective date of the enforcement.
Breaching a stop notice or an enforcement notice is a crime. The builder and land owner are usually the ones prosecuted, but in these cases it is often difficult to prove ownership of the land or identify the details of the builders.
The Council will refuse planning permission, (or they would not have issued the stop notice), but the 'owner' will appeal to the Govt. Planning Inspector.
They will plead, no other sites in the area, kids attend local schools and there will always be the token ill person, who needs to attend the local doctor/clinic/hospital regularly.
My money is on the Planning Inspector granting planning permission. The best hope is that things will change for the better after May 6th.....

JuliaM said...

"And why, pray, should he not sell his land to whoever he damn pleases?"

That's a good point. He should, of course, be free to do so.

But it won't make him too popular if he has indeed done it with full knowledge..

"It'll end up like this disgusting travesty. "

I fear so. Or the one in Essex that's dragging on and on and on...

"My money is on the Planning Inspector granting planning permission."

Me too.

"The best hope is that things will change for the better after May 6th....."

I'm not so sure. There must be some powerful vested interests in this - remember when they descended on land near one of Blair's cabinet ministers home?

Nothing was done then.