A Broken Promise
Gypsy and Traveller residents on local authority sites have been completely let down by the Government. They were looking forward to the introduction of security of tenure but the Government has now decided, after enormous delays, that there will not be time before the General Election to introduce the necessary amendments to the law.
To remind readers of the recent history of this issue, in Connors v UK (May 2004), the European Court of Human Rights found that the eviction of Mr Connors from a local authority Gypsy/Traveller site in circumstances where he was not given the chance to present his defence in court, breached article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the right to respect for private and family life and home).
In November 2004 the Government accepted that they would have to change the law to ensure that such breaches did not occur in the future.
It then took the Government until late 2007 to announce that they intended to achieve this aim by extending the provisions of the Mobile Homes Act (MHA) 1983 to local authority sites (by amending one sentence in MHA 1983 s5, a sentence which excluded local authority sites from the provisions of the Act).
In Doherty v Birmingham City Council (July 2008), the House of Lords, quashed another possession order made in similar circumstances to those in the case of Connors and stated that they would have made a declaration of incompatibility with regard to MHA 1983 s5 but for the fact that they understood that the Housing and Regeneration Bill would make the necessary amendments.
The Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 s318 does make provision for the appropriate amendment to be made by Statutory Instrument. However, in an e-mail sent to various organisations on 10th February 2010, an officer of the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) indicated that there will not be sufficient time to pass the necessary Statutory Instrument through Parliament before the General Election.
The Travellers Advice Team at Community Law Partnership have offered to draft for free a Statutory Instrument that would only bring the security of tenure provisions of the MHA 1983 into effect on local authority sites – a simple process. DCLG have declined
In the meantime consideration is being given to the possibility of a direct challenge to the Government on their continuing failure to change the law in this regard.
Chris Johnson, Community Law Partnership (CLP)
Marc Willers, Garden Court Chambers
The Travellers Advice Team at CLP are keen to hear from Gypsies and Travellers on local authority sites who are interested in challenging this disgraceful Government U turn. For a chat please phone one of the team members on 0121 685 8595 between 9.00am and 5.30pm Monday to Friday or write to us at CLP, 4th Floor Ruskin Chambers, 191 Corporation Street, Birmingham B4 6RP or e-mail us at:
Office@communitylawpartnership.co.uk
Please let us know if you want some of CLP’s ‘Put Your Case’ campaign posters.
