Travellers are being offered interest-free loans funded by the taxpayer to buy their own land.Oh, and they will set the repayment time span, not the council.
The new project will give groups of travellers 'mortgages' of up to £50,000 to buy acres of fields on which to settle.
The Conservative-run council…
The council behind the scheme insists it will solve the problem of finding suitable sites for official gipsy pitches.And if they decide not to? What then?
A council leaflet encourages travellers to choose sites in built-up areas near schools, transport links and shops.
Oh, let me guess. You’ll shrug, and give them the money anyway.
The project has been devised by Mendip District Council in Somerset, which says it needs to find 87 pitches over the next two years.Oh, why? Because council-employed builders need to comply with all sorts of H&S and environmental regulation, perchance?
Officials have struggled to find suitable sites in the county and say council-run sites are expensive to build and maintain.
What are the odds that the travellers will do so?
Outlining the controversial scheme yesterday, council housing project officer Lynden Clarke said: 'We're looking at creating small sites for four to six pitches, with a handful of families per pitch.It’s not a ‘win-win’ for those families that are paying for this, Lynden-with-a-y. Far from it…
It's a win-win for all because it is very cost-effective from local authorities' point of view.'
Matthew Elliott, of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'These loans are an insult to many hard-working families who are struggling to get together the money to put down a deposit on a property.Well, yes. But then just how many travellers pay tax anyway, Matthew?
'Singling out this one community for loans is grossly unfair, particularly if some do not pay their share in council tax and violate planning regulations. Local authorities need to be extremely careful about targeting resources at particular communities, as doing so can lead to understandable resentment.
'They should focus on cutting taxes so all taxpayers have a better chance to save and invest.'
It is understood the scheme will be available to any nomadic group.Hmmm, really..? I can see possibilities there!
But it isn’t just travellers. Over at House of Dumb, a commenter pointed to this utterly incredible project:
Repeat offenders in Tameside are being kept out of prison by a project which gives them somewhere to live.The article bleats on and on about what a ‘saving’ this is for the taxpayer, as if money were the only object, and people should be happy to be held to ransom as long as the ransom can be said to be ‘value for money’.
The Spotlight project targets the group most likely to re-offend - those who have been in prison less than a year.
Offering them free accommodation on their release from jail has seen an 86% drop in re-offending.
And I bet these houses are nowhere near anyone involved in administering this project…
The government has no statutory obligation to support people who are over 21 on their release if they have been in prison for less than a year.Because, of course, if you can only keep out of trouble if the taxpayer agrees to hand you the keys to a free house, that isn’t a failure, Enda, is it?
But Enda Ross, Integrated Offender Management Co-ordinator in Tameside said she believed that the Spotlight project will help "to reverse the cycle of failure which many offenders fall into."
"In hard times, it is clear that we need to do things differently and, on the evidence to hand so far, this approach will lead to real reductions in reoffending and massive savings to the public purse.Courage..? To spend other people’s money on the undeserving?
Adding: "The approach does take courage as it is essentially reinvesting in the causes of crime."
I’d have thought you’d be used to that now, Enda. It isn’t like you ever suffer any consequences as a result of doing it, is it? So I fail to see where courage is required.
I’m no longer surprised by people who don’t work and live crime-based lives. I’m just surprised the rest of us don’t…
Are we talking about travellers here, or pikeys?
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge difference. The problem we have stems from the fact that one is not allowed to call people pikeys because it is racist. Pikeys are not a race, they are mainly from Galway (which in itself is not a bad thing), but they are unscrupulous, rotten, violent, misguided [searches for word] blackguards. No, not quite blackguards, more scum.
They should be wiped from the planet, let alone Somerset. I would happily shoot one myself and lose no sleep.
If we're talking travellers, such as people who have chosen to live off the land rather than join the ratrace, and are prepared to work and pay tax and stuff, then I apologise. Bet we're not though.
This comment is in no way biased owing to the fact that they have robbed me THREE times, Oh no, sir. Nor that the police have been SCARED to go to their camp, even though they know where it is. Nope.
Integrated Offender Management Co-ordinator
ReplyDeleteI know it's been in use for years, but surely the euphemism that is 'offender' should be wiped from our lexicon. Gordon Brown 'offends' me; criminals and law-breakers make me angry.
Nor that the police have been SCARED to go to their camp
This is not an isolated phenomenon...far from it. I'd say it's standard police practice.
@Julia
Thanks for all your efforts and your constantly updated, well-written blog...most entertaining!
Only one way to deal with travellers. Fuck them right off any land that does not belong to them.
ReplyDeleteIf they want land then they can buy it from money they have earned...... Not been handed in benefits but fucking EARNED.
Why the fuck would travellers want land anyway? How could they "travel"?
I fucking hate pikeys*!
ReplyDelete* Thieving gypsy bastards (TGBs), hedgemopers, dididcoys, Romany, Roma, Irish Tinker scum, Aggravated / Distraction Burglars, so called tarmacers, OAP robbers, DNA wasters, Oxygen thieves, chancers, criminals, human vermin.
The Conservative-run council…
ReplyDeleteYes, but which government passed the law saying all councils must provide sites for the TGBs?
"Are we talking about travellers here, or pikeys?
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge difference. "
Not to the groups set up to speak for them and ensure their passage through life...
"I know it's been in use for years, but surely the euphemism that is 'offender' should be wiped from our lexicon. Gordon Brown 'offends' me; criminals and law-breakers make me angry."
Hey, at least they haven't yet referred to them as 'customers'. Or 'clients'.. ;)
"Thanks for all your efforts and your constantly updated, well-written blog...most entertaining!"
Cheers! ;)
"How could they "travel"?"
ReplyDeleteMost don't. Unless it's to other campsites for celebrations or events.
Which makes calling them 'nomadic' even more ridiculous. Are you 'nomadic' because you had a weekend in Torremalinos?
"Yes, but which government passed the law saying all councils must provide sites for the TGBs?"
Oh, indeed. But I'm sure there are ways of dragging out the implementation, or even of outright defiance.
Far too many Tory councils roll over, or are secretly happy to go along.